Interpretivism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A methodological perspective that prioritizes understanding social realities by examining how individuals perceive and assign meaning to their experiences
2. An analytical approach that focuses on comprehending human interactions through the lens of subjective interpretations and personal meanings generated by individuals
3. A research method emphasizing the subjective meanings individuals attach to their social world ; a theory that considers knowledge as shaped by human interpretation and context

Etymology: "Interpretivism" is a straightforward formation: the adjective "interpretive" with the suffix "-ism," which turns a quality into a doctrine, school of thought, or system of belief. "Interpretive" itself comes from the Latin "interpretari," meaning to explain, expound, or translate, built from "inter" (between) and "pretium" (price, value), a reminder that interpreting once meant negotiating a value between parties. The suffix does the real work here. Labels ending in "-ism" typically name a body of principles that a group of thinkers adopts, and interpretivism follows that pattern. Its meaning reflects its adjective: the idea that people's actions and social arrangements can only be understood by grasping the meanings they attach to them, rather than by treating society as a set of measurable external facts.