ABSTRACT
In a chapter on values and the life history method, it is appropriate to introduce some elements of autobiography in order to make sense of the issues to be raised and discussed. My own interest in the use of the life history method for social research goes back to my postgraduate days of 1973–76. It is significant that I had received training in sociology, and sociological research methods, firstly at the University of York, and subsequently at Essex. The theoretical paradigm in which I had undertaken my research apprenticeship was interactionism. My Masters' dissertation was entitled Sad tales and other stories: motivational accounts of shoplifters. The dissertation was heavily influenced by the writings of Erving Goffman, C Wright Mills and Peter Berger, with a focus on the meaning individuals attribute to their social actions. In particular, as the subtitle of the dissertation suggests, the interest was in the accounts that shoplifters gave, and the social meanings they constructed through their accounts. Awareness of the audience was a significant factor, since it was clear that the stories shoplifters told varied depending on who was listening to the stories.
