292 - Thematic Session. Creating Order Out of Chaos: Strategies for Situating Family Members in a Social Context Using Qualitative Data

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

The panel is designed to help sociologists reflect on the ways in which scholars create a coherent analytic narrative, with a theoretical contribution, from qualitative data. It is particularly challenging to situate the family in a social context; there is tremendous pressure to study the family in isolation. All of these distinguished scholars have sought to embedd their studies of the family in a broader social context including racial inequality, community context, and gender relations. The panel will be a blend of substantive finding and methodological reflections.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania

Presider

• Sinikka Elliott, North Carolina State University

Individual Presentations

• Making Sense of Things: Reflections on How to Develop a Sociological Argument with Interview Data - Kathleen Gerson, New York University

• Beyond Loving: Positioning Interracial Narratives in a Social Structure Context - Amy C. Steinbugler, Dickinson College

• Kin Trees and Community Maps: Framing Families and Networks - Karen V. Hansen, Brandeis University

Discussant

• Ralph LaRossa, Georgia State University