A Qualitative Stance: In Memory of Steinar Kvale, 1938-2008

This book articulates a qualitative stance, drawing inspiration from the Danish psychologist Steinar Kvale's work. The qualitative stance involves a point of departure where the social world is described before theorized, understood before explained, and seen as concrete qualities rather than abstract quantities. It focuses on the cultural, everyday, and situated aspects of human thinking, learning, knowing, acting, and ways of understanding ourselves as persons, while at the same time striving to be scientific. International authorities on qualitative inquiry, education, psychology, and philosophy each develop different aspects of the qualitative stance by engaging with three distinct themes: The first centers around qualitative studies on learning, studied as a social phenomenon of human beings in changing social practices. The second theme is a critique of current educational practices and the postmodern consumer society, arrived at through careful descriptions of subjectivity and contemporary social relations. The third theme is about the development of new ways of thinking about qualitative inquiry.