The story of the self is big story. For at least a century, the concept of the empirical self has been an important, if not our most central, social structure. The early pragmatists William James, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead, among others, turned away from the transcendental self [...]
An exciting and comprehensive resource, Varieties of Narrative Analysis presents a broad spectrum of approaches to the empirical analysis of stories and storytelling. Leading researchers from different disciplines provide richly illustrated discussions of how they actually conduct narrative analysis[...]
Constructing the Life Course offers a social constructionist perspective on personal experience through time. The text shows the variety of ways people use life course imagery in their everyday lives and makes a useful addition to family studies or gerontology courses.[...]
In recent years, scholars and researchers have moved away from quantitative methods of research and toward qualitative methods, which emphasize questions of meaning and interpretation. Gubrium and Holstein offer a theoretical view which reintegrates the traditional emphasis on the "how" and "what" o[...]
Aging and Everyday Life presents a balanced and realistic view of the aging experience. The research in this book reveals that much, if not most, of the triumphs and trials experienced in later years are not unlike those confronted at other points in life. Just like younger people, the elderly exper[...]
Interviews were once thought to be the pipeline through which information was transmitted from a passive subject to an omniscient researcher. However the new 'active interview' considers interviewers and interviewees as equal partners in constructing meaning around an interview. This interpretation [...]
"Analyzing Narrative Reality" offers a comprehensive framework for analyzing the construction and use of stories in society. This centres on the interplay of narrative work and narrative environments, viewed as reflexively related. Topics dealing with narrative work include activation, linkage, comp[...]
In January 2014, President Barack Obama made headlines when he confided to New Yorker reporter Davis Remnick that, if he had a son, he would discourage him from playing in the NFL. "I would not let my son play pro football," he told the writer. Obama's words came on the heels of a year of heightened[...]
Aging and Everyday Life presents a balanced and realistic view of the aging experience. The research in this book reveals that much, if not most, of the triumphs and trials experienced in later years are not unlike those confronted at other points in life. Just like younger people, the elderly exper[...]