https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0478-9582
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ABSTRACT
This article presents a balanced account of visual social science in its successive emanations. It starts by defining the basic traits and assumptions of the visual study of culture and society and then moves to briefly sketch its origins in camera-based research and its gradual institutionalization. Then a discussion follows of the more recent period which is characterized by a broadening of the field of view in many respects: other non-camera based techniques have entered the scope, along with a more inclusive stance towards not directly visible referents. New technologies also have dramatically expanded the visual and spatial opportunities of visual research, and ways to include other senses than the visual are being considered. Next, the article moves to a concise discussion of different modes of visual data collection, production, and presentation. Four ‘vignettes’ complement this discussion by presenting applications of the main modes of visual social science: one about the study of found images, one involving researcher-produced images and another based on respondent-generated images, and lastly an excerpt of a visual essay. The final section examines some current challenges and opportunities of visual research in terms of navigating and partly overcoming several disciplinary and external expectations and constraints.
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Luc Pauwels
Luc Pauwels is Professor Emeritus of Visual Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Antwerp (Faculty of Social Sciences), and President of the ‘Visual Sociology’ Research Committee (RC57) of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Books include: ‘Visual Cultures of Science’ (2006, UPNE), ‘Reframing Visual Social Science. Towards a More Visual Sociology and Anthropology’ (2015, Cambridge University Press), ‘The Sage Handbook of Visual Research Methods’ (2020, 2nd ed. with D. Mannay) and ‘Visual and Multimodal Urban Sociology’ (2023, Emerald).