Two Decades of Reflection and Critique. The Continuous Fear of Replacement—The Renaissance of Feeling and Intuition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Sociology Review (2005–2025)

Marciniak, Lukasz

dc.contributor.author	Marciniak, Lukasz
dc.date.accessioned	2026-03-11T12:55:30Z
dc.date.available	2026-03-11T12:55:30Z
dc.date.issued	2026-03-06
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11089/57672
dc.description.abstract	On the twentieth anniversary of Qualitative Sociology Review (QSR), this article offers a critical and autoethnographic reflection on how qualitative sociology has responded to technological innovation over the past two decades. I argue that the recurring fear of replacement, first by online publishing, then by CAQDAS software, and now by Artificial Intelligence (AI), reveals a persistent disciplinary anxiety. Anxiety that qualitative sociologists are being reduced to merely instrumental analytical roles. Drawing on personal recollections as a QSR co-founder and a review of global debates, I demonstrate how these fears have shaped our collective identity. Using the example of precariat research, I highlight the impor tance of the intellectualization of qualitative research, underscoring how qualitative researchers have become replaceable by technology. While AI now threatens to take over many tasks once considered the province of our expertise, it also highlights what remains uniquely human in our field: resonance, empathy, intuition, and ontological courage. I propose a competency profile for future qualitative sociol ogists that integrates digital literacy and AI collaboration with a renewed emphasis on embodied and empathetic inquiry. My conclusion presents AI not as the end of qualitative sociology, but as a catalyst for its renewal.	en
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego	pl
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Qualitative Sociology Review;1	en
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
dc.subject	Qualitative Research Methodology	en
dc.subject	Autoethnography	en
dc.subject	Artificial Intelligence (AI)	en
dc.subject	Computer- Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS)	en
dc.subject	Precarity	en
dc.subject	Resonance	en
dc.subject	Empathy	en
dc.subject	Intuition	en
dc.title	Two Decades of Reflection and Critique. The Continuous Fear of Replacement—The Renaissance of Feeling and Intuition in the Age of Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Sociology Review (2005–2025)	en
dc.type	Article
dc.page.number	6-22
dc.contributor.authorAffiliation	University of Lodz, Poland	en
dc.identifier.eissn	1733-8077
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dc.contributor.authorEmail	lukasz.marciniak@uni.lodz.pl
dc.identifier.doi	10.18778/1733-8077.22.1.01
dc.relation.volume	22

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