American sociologist Norman Denzin (1941-) began his sociological opus under the auspices of symbolic interactionism, only to later develop his approach, which he called "interpretive interactionism." Denzin was mostly engaged in qualitative research of social phenomena, so interpretive interactionism focuses on, above all, his epistemological approach to qualitative research. Denzin combines the influences of symbolic interactionism, hermeneutics, feminism, and postmodernism, to develop an approach to qualitative research that emphasizes subjective and biographical elements. Interpretive interactionism views the very act of interpretation as a communicative act with oneself. He believes that there is no way to reach a completely objective knowledge of one's inner life because linguistic communication itself is unstable and fluid. Both interviews and biographies (two methods that Denzin carefully studied) represent only an interpretation of people's real experiences - respondents re-create their own experiences by talking about themselves, and then the researcher recreates that experience based on his previous experience.

Denzin views qualitative research as a means of creating derived text and performative ethnography about himself and society. The goal is to study things in their natural environment, to give meaning, or to interpret phenomena in the context of the meaning that people themselves give them. Qualitative research involves a wide range of related interpretive practices, and the researcher needs to use a multitude of different and complementary techniques, except that the research product resembles more a collage than a scientific study. Denzin is openly on the side of research that is not value-neutral but actively advocates the interests of vulnerable groups.

Denzin's areas of research include, in addition to the epistemology of qualitative research, alcoholism, emotional life, cinemas and their audiences, race relations, and the impact of the September 2001 terrorist attacks on American culture.

Authors: Denzin Norman

Books:

Denzin. On Understanding Emotion (1984);

     -    Interpretive Biography (1989);

     -    The Alcoholic Self (1993);

     -    The Cinematic Society: The Voyeur’s Gaze (1995);

     -    Interpretive Ethnography (1996);

     -    Interpretive Interactionism (2001);

     -    Reading Race (2002);

     -    9-11 in American Culture (2003);

     -    Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (2003);

     -    Performance Ethnography (2003); 

     -    Studies in Symbolic Interaction (2004);

     -    Handbook of Qualitative Research, 3rd ed. (2005);

     -    Flags in the Window: Dispatches from the American War Zone (2007);

     -    Searching for Yellowstone: Race, Gender Family and Memory in the Postmodern West (2008);

     -    Indians on Display: Global Commodification of Native America in Performance, Art and Museums (2013).