This volume focuses on the place of biographical research in social futures and its creative applications in the new unprecedented societal circumstances, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This volume focuses on the place of biographical research in shaping social futures and its creative applications in the new unprecedented societal circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Written by experienced and early career biographical researchers, it demonstrates how biographical research responds to the new ‘social architecture’: theoretically, empirically and analytically.

Biographical research methods have become a useful and popular tool for contemporary social scientists. This book combines an exploration of the historical and philosophical origins of this important field of qualitative research with comparative examples of the different ways that biographical methods have been successfully applied internationally. Through these many illustrative examples of socio-biography in process the authors show how formal textual analysis, whilst uncovering hidden emotional defences, can also shed light on wider historical processes of societal transformation. Topics discussed include: *individual and linked lives *generational change *political influences on memory and identity *biographical work in reflexive societies *narrativity and empowerment in professional practice *ways of theorising and generalising from case-studies. Biographical Methods in the Social Sciences promotes debate and provides opportunities for students and researchers to widen their uses of narrative research.

This title was first published in 2003. The transition from socialism experienced by the countries of Eastern and Central Europe during the last decade has been recognised as a profound historical watershed. It is only now, however, that the meanings and dimensions of 'post-socialism' are becoming apparent. The use of the 'biographical perspective' in research provides a unique avenue for studying these changes. Biographical Research in Eastern Europe is the only edited volume that brings the work of many of the most advanced and active biographical researchers working on Eastern Europe together in one volume. The book is organized into four parts. 'The Potential of Biographical Research,' explores the methodological issues. Arguments for the appropriateness of the biographical approach as a humanistic perspective are put forward and emphasis is laid on its fruitfulness for research into everyday lives and for the study of identity construction with particular reference to transition. 'Communists, Informers and Dissidents,' deals with the structural features of Soviet regimes, with a particular focus on the problematic divisions between public and private spheres of life. 'The Impact of Social Change,' demonstrates the value of the biographical approach as an instrument for the study of social and cultural change. 'Exile, Migration and Ethnicity,' centres on the problem of constructing and maintaining ethnic identities under repression; a context that can be seen as disturbing life-trajectories and framing the life story. Covering a wide range of 'post-socialist' countries, the chapters are unified by a common research perspective and an informative introduction that identifies common themes across the selections.

This book considers the methodological and theoretical questions associated with the use of life stories, oral histories, personal narratives, autobiographies, and biographies, as they are incorporated into sociological, ethnographic, and narrative studies. The collection and interpretation of materials, the uses of biographical research, the interview relationship, the construction of the story, memory, and audience are all considered. Roberts teaches sociology at the University of Huddersfield. The book is distributed by Taylor and Francis. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

55,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2002.

Bringing reconstructive biographical research into dialogue with critical realism, this book argues that causal explanations are not at odds with biographical research and that biographical research is in fact a valuable tool for explaining how and why things in social and personal lives are one way and not another.