The interpretive paradigm, on the other hand, is based upon the view that the social world has a very precarious ontolog- ical status, and that what passes as social reality does not exist in any concrete sense, but is the product of the sub- jective and inter-subjective experience of individuals. Society is understood from the standpoint of the participant in action rather than the observer. The interpretive social theorist at- tempts to understand the process through which shared