Narrative Turn or Blind Alley?

TLDR

Sociologists, anthropologists, and other scholars increasingly focus on collecting and analyzing personal narratives, especially in qualitative health research where narratives of suffering and illness are given special status. The article supports a narrative approach while critiquing studies that treat narratives as granting analysts privileged access to personal experience. The critique is built by reviewing several major authors in the field. It argues that appeals to narratives frequently rest on inappropriate assumptions about human actors and social action.

Abstract

Sociologists, anthropologists, and others are paying increasing attention to the collection and analysis of personal narratives. This is true of qualitative health research, where narratives of suffering and illness have been granted special status. The article endorses a narrative approach but offers a criticism of research in which narratives are regarded as offering the analyst privileged access to personal experience. It is suggested that an appeal to narratives too often includes inappropriate assumptions concerning human actors and social action. The argument is developed primarily through a reading of several major authors in the field.