How do you know? Seven theses on qualitative sociology as theory and method

Abstract

In its seven theses, this article discusses: (a) how different qualitative sociology is from other approaches; (b) the role of ‘casing’ in generating both units of analysis and settings; (c) the theoretical and empirical work of adjudicating what some emergent phenomena is a case of; (d) the ‘modelization’ through writing of our case as a research object; (e) the rhetorical construction of causality and the central role of ‘puzzles’ on it; (f) the reflexive epistemological vigilance about the role of the participant observer in producing the knowledge they generate; and (g) the reconceptualization of qualitative sociology as a type of epistemological package, and of theorization, in consequence, as a kind of practical activity.