Christoph Novak Facing Privilege in Qualitative Interview Settings. The A-B-C-D-Approach “The central argument is that what distinguishes critical from uncritical research is not the method used, but how the method is used, both technically and politically.” Joey Sprague 2005, p. 27 Abstract Most people are bestowed with social privileges, whether they want them or not. Carrying specific racialised and gendered characteristics, being associated with some religious groups, being raised in certain socio-economic conditions, being categorised in specific age groups and performing a certain professional role come with different, context specific advantages. Manifestations of such privileges not only show in social interactions (e.g. being attended well by a waiter), but also influence lived-realities quite fundamentally (e. g. never having experienced sexual harassment). Often privileges are working to one’s ad- vantage so seemingly naturally, that one does not only take them for granted for oneself, but one is inclined to assume that one’s privileged experiences constitute the norm, rather than an exception. While investigations of privilege and privileged groups have become labeled as Privilege Studies under the influence of Peggy McIntosh, knowledge of privilege is only slowly making its entry into critical research practice. This chapter addresses this gap by iden- tifying some areas in which privilege can have a problematic impact on data generated in one-on-one research encounters, particularly qualitative interviews. The issues raised relate primarily to situations in which privilege differentials between researchers and researched exist. Based on these reflections, in the second part of the chapter I develop the A-B-C-D-approach, which ought to help researchers integrate a critical self-assessment of privilege in research design, practice and analysis. The four steps proposed are (1) the assessment of privilege, (2) the balancing of the influence of privilege through research design, (3) the act of communicating the knowledge about privileging structures as a way to control for its influence and signal one’s critical position to research participants, and (4) the deconstruction of the influence of privilege throughout analysis. This chapter develops a structured process of self-reflection, which invites re- searchers to see themselves as social beings embedded in social power relations and as having context-specific privileges. By privileges, I refer to advantages, which originate in social interactions and have their basis in material living conditions and/or hegemonic discursive formations. Those advantages can be linked, for example, to how someone is perceived by others (e.g. based on stereotypes) and the particular experiences one has due to those perceptions. Prayer, Pop and Politics downloaded from www.vr-elibrary.de by Universität Wien on November, 26 2021 For personal use only.