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dc.contributor.authorW Rhodes, R.
dc.date.accessioned2017-08-25T12:32:14Z
dc.date.available2017-08-25T12:32:14Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.date.modified2014-03-24T04:42:23Z
dc.identifier.issn14789299
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1478-9302.2011.00236.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/49753
dc.description.abstractThe British tradition of political life history has six conventions: 'tombstone' biography, separation of public and private lives, life without theory, objective evidence and facts, character and storytelling. I describe each in turn and review the main debates in the tradition before turning to the swingeing critique by 'the interpretive turn'. Postmodernism deconstructed grand narratives by pronouncing the death of the subject and the death of the author. I outline an interpretive approach that reclaims life history by focusing on the idea of 'situated agency': that is, on the webs of significance that people spin for themselves against the backcloth of their inherited beliefs and practices. I explore, with examples, the implications of this approach for writing life history, stressing the different uses for biography open to political scientists. I end with some brief thoughts on why the British tradition of political life history has proved resistant to change.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.format.extent347634 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell Publishing
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom161
dc.relation.ispartofpageto176
dc.relation.ispartofissue2
dc.relation.ispartofjournalPolitical Studies Review
dc.relation.ispartofvolume10
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPublic Administration
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPolitical Science
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode160509
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode1606
dc.titleTheory, Method and British Political Life History
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.rights.copyright© 2012 The American Society for Public Administration. Published by Blackwell Publishing. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Theory, Method and British Political Life History, Public Administration Review, Vol. 10(2), 2012, pp. 161-176, which has been published in final form at dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-9302.2011.00236.x.
gro.date.issued2012
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorRhodes, Rod A.


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