Seizing the Spinning Top: Reflexivity in Practice

Abstract

Despite theoretical interest in reflexivity, empirical research in this area is still rare (Phillips and Western, 2005). This is, likely, in part, to be a result of the methodological difficulty involved: akin to seizing a spinning top to understand how it works (James, 1890, p.244, cited Archer, 2010, p.5). Yet we do need to find out more about reflexivity, about how we make our way in the world and, specifically, the role of emotions in this. This chapter adds to empirical work in this area and engages with some of the conceptual work about reflexivity outlined in Chapter 1. While the themes considered here are complex ones, and could be the subject of a book in their own right, my aim is to focus on those aspects identified in Chapter 1 as undertheorized in previous work, namely the emotional, interpretive and relational dimensions of reflexivity (Burkitt, 2012). I explore these aspects through addressing three concerns: first, the nature of inner conversations — particularly the relationship between the emotional and cognitive dimensions of such talk, the role of others in self-talk, and what it means for one’s inner conversation to be ‘fractured’; second, the significance of what we do other than talk to ourselves; and finally, how it is we learn to be reflexive. In relation to the last of these, while, as we have seen, there has been a focus on childhood and the relational ‘goods’ and ‘evils’ of our formative years, we need to understand the fluctuating nature of reflexivity throughout our lives.