ABSTRACT
A hermeneutically informed sociology which also takes cognizance of the objective context in which communicative processes occur can best be defined as 'dialectical'. The interpenetration of objective and subjective moments of social reality is reflected on the level of methodology in which intended and objective meaning are related to one another. Social analysis has to find a way between idealizing the conditions under which communication takes place and hypostatizing given socio-economic and political constraints. A hermeneutic-dialectical analysis is necessarily critical and is guided by an interest in emancipation. The relatively 'privileged' position of the critical sociologist also has a bearing on the verification of interpretations which again deviates from the one envisaged in the hermeneutic paradigm. Interpretive and hermeneutic sociology lose sight of the determinants of action operating through distorted language and behind the backs of individuals and groups.
