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This paper aims to discern, clarify, criticise, and advocate some uses of phenomenology in sociological research. Phenomenology is increasingly evoked or implicitly employed in sociological endeavours. Little attention, however, is paid to what is entailed in taking a phenomenological approach, and whether it is employed to advance empirical or theoretical knowledge. I build an analytic typology of different empirical and theoretical uses of phenomenology, criticise a range of these uses, and argue that other uses bear significant potential for the advancement of theoretical and empirical knowledge. The paper's main contribution lies in comparing and contrasting the many invocations of phenomenology in contemporary social scientific research to discern their benefits and shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a qualitative study of Black cisgender women's faculty experiences using an interactionist framework. Relying on in‐depth interviews, we explore the experiences of eight Black, cisgender, women, sociology faculty across the United States in various tenure and non‐tenure roles at different institutions (community college, teaching college, and research universities). Participants engaged in a variety of impression management techniques to overcome implicit biases and controlling images that shaped their students', and their colleagues', perceptions. While women in our study had agency, they were limited in the ways they could present themselves, a phenomenon Deil‐Amen and Tevis describe as circumscribed agency. Once women in our study had achieved seniority they were able to express themselves in culturally authentic ways. Theoretically, this study shows how interpretive sociology can overcome its theoretical limitations in dealing with race, and shows that the interactionist perspective is actually well suited towards discussing this matters in a meaningful way. We conclude by advocating for greater awareness surrounding the lived experience of Black, women faculty, especially by those who mentor and evaluate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]