Biographical Sociology
Biographical Sociology, in general terms, can be said to be an attempt to understand the changing experiences and outlooks of individuals in their daily lives, what they see as important, and how to provide interpretations of the accounts they give of their past, present and future (Roberts, 2002: 1). An emphasis on the “biographical” in sociology is not simply the study of the individual life. Following Mills, we would argue that Biographical Sociology has a “task and a promise” in employing an “imagination” which: enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals... enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society... [and] between ‘the personal troubles of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of social structure’. (Mills, 1970: 11, 12, 14) The challenge to the separation of single lives and social structure:
involves sociologists questioning and indeed rejecting conventional sharp distinctions between structure and action, and relatedly, individual and collective, as presenting an over-dichotomised view of social life. It means rejecting any notion that a ‘life’ can be understood as a representation of a single self in isolation from networks of interwoven biographies. (Stanley and Morgan, 1993: 2)
The exploration of the interplay of biography, history and structure is central to a Biographical Sociology. Conceptualisation of the social world primarily according to structure would omit the essential attention to “human joy and suffering” (Plummer, 2001: 6). A Biographical Sociology entails a “critical humanism” – “a longing for social
science to take more seriously its humanistic foundations and to foster styles of thinking that encourage the creative, interpretive story tellings of lives – with all the ethical, political and self-reflexive engagements that this will bring” (Plummer, 2001: 1). The context of the current Special Issue is the contemporary position of the social sciences, which are facing a great challenge in analysing rapidly changing social and cultural horizons. We are not alone in arguing for a need to develop new vocabulary, concepts and categories, which would better grasp a social life that is less and less understandable through the old ideas and frameworks. Social research is attempting to meet the need to renovate its analytical tools and practices in order to produce more pertinent knowledge about the increasingly complex world. The question here is –“What has biographical research to offer in this task”? The concerns of the Special Issue are twofold. First, to provide work that demonstrates the variety, strengths and developments within current Biographical Sociology. Secondly, to give a consideration of contributions from related disciplines that point out ways in which Biographical Sociology can benefit from work outside the discipline of sociology, and in turn, identify areas of possible collaboration.
- Mills, C. Wright (1970) The Sociological Imagination. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Stanley, Liz and David Morgan (1993) “Editorial, Special Issue: Biography and
Autobiography in Sociology.” Sociology 27 (1): 1-4.
- Plummer, Ken (2001) Documents of Life 2. An Invitation to A Critical Humanism. 2nd
edition. London: Sage.
- Roberts, Brian (2002) Biographical Research. Buckingham: OU.
from: Roberts, Brian and Riitta Kyllonen (2006) “Editorial Introduction: Special Issue – ‘Biographical Sociology’.” Qualitative Sociology Review, Vol. II Issue 1. Retrieved Month, Year (http://www.qualitativesociologyreview.org /ENG/archive_eng.php)
- Shantz, Jeffrey (2009) Biographical Sociology. Struggles over an Emergent Sociological Practice, in: a|b: Auto|Biography Studies. Vol. 24. N. 1. Summer 2009, pp. 113-129.