Working Paper 1: Researching redistributive imaginaries: emerging methodological reflections

This is the first in a series of working papers produced by members of the consortium as part of the Redistributive Imaginaries (ReDigIm) project. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘imaginaries’ and its role in the project’s methodology as well as its epistemological underpinnings. The first part of the paper explains why we have chosen to adopt the concept of imaginaries and how it serves our inquiry into redistributive practices and social meaning-making. It sets out our conceptualisation of imaginaries and the theoretical frameworks that we think are most relevant to our investigation. The second part of the paper considers various methodological challenges associated with research on imaginaries and identifies the specific methods we have selected to implement the ReDigIm project.