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Towards a critique of the "qualitative method" This article is based on a plenary speech (Sw. Sociological Association) in which several critical remarks were directed against the frequent and popular use of ’qualitative methods’ in contemporary sociology. The various types of remarks were: (1) Is the qualitative method anti-positivistic (2) Does it draw upon a different form of rationality than the quantitative method (3) Is the qualitative method more suitable for women than for men, and finally (4) Is the qualitative method ”deconstructivist” and/or ”postmodern”? The article ends with a critical discussion of which the possible consequences may be for the sociological discipline as such, when the qualitative method (or for that matter, women) come to dominate.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv