A methodological approach to the materiality of clothing: Wardrobe studies
The material is not just ‘a carrier’ of different types of symbols, but an active element in the practices. Bringing this to the fore requires new research methods. This article discusses a methodological approach, we call it a wardrobe study, which allows for the analysis of the way in which clothes relate to each other on the whole or within parts of the wardrobe. More specifically, we discuss how this method can contribute to increasing the materiality of clothes studies. The theoretical point of departure for this approach is a practice theory in which the material enters as an integral part. First, the article briefly discusses developments within the study of dress and fashion. Second, the methods combined and developed in wardrobe studies are discussed. The emphasis here is primarily not only on the weaknesses of the individual methods in practice-oriented dress studies, but also on how they jointly can contribute to the wardrobe study.
It has been argued that foundation ::: funding has distorted methods in American sociology in the direction of quantification. ::: This argument rests on a number of assumptions, of which the key one is that in the ::: absence of such funding, method would have developed differently. Data on the ::: methods of funded and unfunded research articles are analysed, and show that the trend ::: to increasing levels of quantification is almost equally present in unfunded work, which ::: suggests that funding should not be held responsible for the trend.