Showing papers by "Anselm L. Strauss published in 1995"

Notes on the Nature and Development of General Theories

Abstract: There is a remarkable absence of discussion in sociology about the nature of (grounded) theories, how to generate them, and go about verifying them (witness the recent Handbook of Qualitative Research). Most theories are substantive. Differences among types of theories along various dimensions are discussed. A stand is taken against the usual oversimplified hierarchization of them by "levels," using an analysis of how theories appear in Science articles. For social scientists, this use constitutes models to be learned from, but not slavishly followed. Extended illustration is given from the author's research on the control of information, including guarding secrets, giving misleading information, engaging in suspicion searches, and the like. From this research, several innovative procedures are discussed relative to developing, checking, and linking general theories, both with each other and with substantive theories.

Identity, Biography, History, and Symbolic Representations

Abstract: Neither Mead nor Cooley could countenance any philosophical or sociological dualisms. Thus they taught us not to reify-to make into separate entities-such concepts as individual and collective identity (or, in their terms, self and society). Like other social science concepts, those were only analytic abstractions standing for an assumed actual unity. Both men's views also included broad-scale historical emphases: evolution and temporal perspectives for Mead, and social process for Cooley.' To talk of these men today may seem appropriate only for ceremonial remembrance, but I also think of their work as still setting the stage for future attacks on the trinity of identity, biography, and history. In my talk I will add some thoughts on symbolic universes and symbolic representations, particularly with reference to the United States, and also to related representations of other countries. It's in the general spirit of this tradition that today I will tentatively approach those topics. I say "tentatively" because this talk is based on a research project that is barely under way, though it follows from some assertions I made a long time ago. In Mirrors and Masks, which was about identity in relation to "social organization," I wrote: "Identities imply not merely personal histories but also social histories. . . . If you wish to understand persons . . . you must be prepared to view them as embedded in historical context." Also, "A man must be viewed as embedded in a temporal matrix not

La production de la théorie à partir des données

Abstract: Cet extrait du chapitre 2 de l’ouvrage classique de Barney Glaser et Anselm Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory (1967) met en valeur l’interet des propositions epistemologiques de la sociologie interactionniste. En restant toujours au plus pres des exigences specifiques de l’observation reglee du monde social, Glaser et Strauss indiquent les impasses auxquelles conduisent les problematiques de la validation d’une theorie par les tests empiriques, comme celle de Merton : les sciences sociales qui ne satisfont pas aux conditions logiques de la falsification obeissent a un autre registre de la production theorique. Cet extrait presente ainsi la notion de grounded theory a partir d’une reflexion sur les usages de l’analyse comparative consideree comme une methode de portee generale, au meme titre que les methodes experimentale et statistique. C’est au cours du processus de decouverte de la theorie que sont produites les categories conceptuelles ou leurs proprietes a partir d’elements probants. La preuve a partir de laquelle a emerge la categorie est utilisee en retour pour illustrer le concept, dont le contenu est periodiquement reelabore, selon l’evolution des objectifs relatifs a la theorie et a l’enquete.