Subjectivity Flashcards
subjectivity
an individuals feelings opinions and preferences that are mediated by context
this is the belief of the social consturctionism epistemology
our human experience is being engaged with and simultaneously constructing our social world
historical beings have built up assumptions and beliefs about the world, and each individual is currently and continuously constructing the world, which also experiencing it.
We are brought into being by our human experiences and that makes us subjects.
subjectivity could be seen as the process of being brought into being who you are
subjectivity is used as a valuable part of the research, because your subjectivity is informed by your human experience which is valuable research fodder
what subjectivity means for general understanding
we can understand phenomenon like facebook unemployment mental health subjectively
unemployment influences the self and identity, a product of industrial context and histories
mental health is influences and influences self and the social world including public health systems, medical system, employment structures and industrialism
we are never outside of social contexts. we even consciously think mediated by our contexts
it means we change our epistemology, we cant generally understand the world in a purely objective cold way, we have to consider our own subjectivity and how that mediates our general understanding.
our idea about unemployment is mediated by the historical and political ways that concept has been constructed before we ever came along.
what subjectivity means for research specifically
its increasingly useful to think about the way conscious processes, language, conscious thinking, and memory are performed socially
interactions impact how you create memories, but also how you are influenced throughout your life, alters that memory
when you retrieve that memory, you retrieve it in a contextual way, you alter it based on current context.
more generally, it means for research that we should do reflexive excersizes!
objectivity v subjectivity
not a pragmatic dichotomy
the definition of objectivity as opposite poses subjectivity as mere bias, a limitation, a problem to be stamped out
better to understand as research viewpoints grounded in different epistemologies
empiricism v social constuctionism
subjectivity has humanistic morals
what infleunces human experiences
- our interpretations of our experiences. we are constantly interpreting, even at a basic sensory level
- we are collectively engaged in constructing our social world
- language and linguistics all communication and interpretation of mediates our experiences
- relationships and intersubjectivity - the interactions that inform our understanding of the world/social world
- culture
- norms and stereotypes- the more obvious examples
- social groups and categories sex class race employment political group
- discourses - sets of meaning - that influences our interpretations and experiences of the world
what infleunces human experiences
- our interpretations of our experiences. we are constantly interpreting, even at a basic sensory level
- we are collectively engaged in constructing our social world
- language and linguistics all communication and interpretation of mediates our experiences
- relationships and inter-subjectivity - the interactions that inform our understanding of the world/social world
- culture
- norms and stereotypes- the more obvious examples
- social groups and categories sex class race employment political group
- discourses - sets of meaning - that influences our interpretations and experiences of the world
how theories of self impact thoughts on subjectivity
theories of self
- individualistic western ideals, autonomous, discrete, self contained, with individualized motives concerns motivations and desires
- created by culture, industrialized, capitalist, science empiricism post french rev
there is evidence we overstate the discreteness of self
- collectivist cultures
- my idea; the way we think about animals like possums, versus dogs who we put that individualism onto
- some research is looking at collectivist experiences
most research assumes the individual self IS discrete
your thoughts on subjectivity is mediated by your epistemology, if you think its possible to know things objectively at all then you think subjectivity is diametrically opposed to this empiricism.
empiricism has a bias towards a discrete individual. It thinks we should focus on mapping the objective experiences of individuals rather than considering how all experience and knowledge is subjective including the researcher themselves and their assumptions about research and about the measurement tools and about the concept they are trying to measure
social constuctionism suggests that social connectivity informs experience and interpretations
the self as a continuous and collective entity allows for us to consider the impacts of social construction, it sees subjectivity as inherent to research on human experiences
the self as individual discrete sees subjectivity as opposed to objectivity and something to be stamped out and ignored
inter-subjective selves
our selves are continuously and unbreakablely connected to others
our inner monologue is other directed, even in the language of our thoughts, but also in the way we speak
conscious thinking is directed by our prior conversational experiences with family and friends
as an individual one is never not in the social world, context is always there, our experiences are never not mediated by social context
we start to see our selves as multiple (different selves in different contexts)
we have roles we are invited to inhabit as an individual
we do have biological and contextual things that impact our multiple selves
but we also have agency and are constantly acting
(from “changing the subject” book)
1st person v 2nd person v 3rd person reflexivity
from Parker
in ordinary positivist research we have always considered that the participant is responding subjectivity, naturally that is what psychology is, but this is more about acknowledging the researchers subjectivity
1st person might be used in positivist research, seeing the subjectivity as a limitation of the research and trying to over come it. might include talking about the researchers feelings
- i felt nervous
- i’m a novice interviewer
- i am a therapist
2nd person reflexivity used in social constructionist research looks in more depth about how the subjectivity is socially constructed, about the inter-subjective factors, and continuous integrates the subjectivity into the research itself
- the socially constructed identity of researcher
- the positioning as female versus male participants
- the privileging of researcher and age
- exploring the actual impact that might have had on the interview interactions
3rd person reflexivity
-the context in which the whole research is positioned, that the research itself exists is a product of many contexts, which mediates the interpretation of ‘researcher’ as a position
-you need to give voice to peoples experiences without the dominant powerful voices overshadowing (including your empowered voice as the researcher who is in control)
-this is subjectivity in the post modern sense
-it includes the surrounding institutions (like education and pedagogy in edu research) this impacts the participants expectations because the research was done in a school.
the researchers power might change how you express their opinions
postmodernism
expanded social constructionism
knowledge is bound to power structures
pays attention to assumptions
makes known and questions what it usually assumed
challenges the status quo
is politically motivated in opposition to the dominant knowledge generation structures
