ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what it means to adopt an interpretivist rather than a positivist approach to concepts and explain why students of the social world should take an interpretivist approach seriously. It begins by explaining what is meant by positivism and interpretivism. Then, the chapter lays out the key features of the positivist and interpretivist approaches to concepts; the positivist approach reconstruction and the interpretivist alternative, elucidation. It describes and assesses a set of conceptual guidelines foundational to positivist political science and its application to the concept of family. Central to that discussion are three critiques made of positivist reconstruction: one-sidedness, universalism, and objectivism. Positivism and interpretivism represent two different conceptions of social science or, more precisely, two different methodologies that the scholar may bring to the study of the social world. Experience-distant and experience-near concepts are also elucidated.
