The Contemporaneity of Grounded Theory: Data and Emotional Reflexivity

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on why it is important to connect the perspectives of Glaser and Strauss again. Grounded theory (GT) was conceived to innovate empirical research. Research, Glaser and Strauss argued, should be generated from the field and not created on the base of theoretical presuppositions; however, Glaser and Strauss eventually disagreed on that topic. While Glaser was convinced that codes emerge from the data, Strauss emphasized that theoretical concepts are relevant while coding. This article reflects the relation between data and theoretical concepts. While adopting a constructivist approach, I argue: if nothing emerges from data, nothing can be conceptualized. Only in the dialectic of emerging and constructing can research be conducted adequately . The dialectic of emergence and conceptualization will be illustrated on examples from my empirical study of processes of emotional reflexivity in contexts of migration . In these cases, Glaser's and Strauss' conflict may be somewhat of a false dilemma.

Notes

¹ It should be mentioned here that the term “nature” was exploited very often in discourses—for example, in the contexts of gender issues (Butler 2012; [1997] 2013).

² Or as Bakker (2015a:219) asked, Are we really dealing with a social “science” or is it all a matter of opinion? Bakker (2015a: 221) stated, “The issue is often not whether we can agree on facts, but rather, which facts are most important.”

³ The names of the interviewees are, of course, changed.

⁴ From the perspective of Hochschild (1983), emotion work—which is practiced in the long run—can cause emotional problems like feelings of estrangement of the self.

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Notes on contributors

Yvonne Albrecht

Yvonne Albrecht is a postdoctoral research fellow at the KomRex (Centre for Research on Right-Wing Extremism, Civic Education and Social Integration) at Friedrich-Schiller-University (FSU) in Jena, Germany. Her research interests are migration, transnational inclusion/integration, emotions, right-wing radicalization, and qualitative research. Her publications include “Emotions in Motion: How Feelings are Considered in the Scope of Migration Sociological Studies” (2016) and Gefühle im Prozess der Migration. Transkulturelle Narrationen zwischen Zugehörigkeit und Distanzierung (Springer VS, 2017).