Instead the latter is positioned and discussed in the context of the evolution of the so-called 'Verstehen' tradition of interpretive sociology.
Helle has specifically looked at the path taken by European sociology in its tension between positivism and neo-Kantianism since the writing of Georg Simmel.
He connects this tradition to Blumer's indebtedness to George Herbert Mead, the widely acknowledged “father” of Symbolic Interactionism.
In this theoretical continuity Helle also discusses the work of Anselm Strauss, Tamotsu Shibutani and, particularly, Erving Goffman.
Most of Helle’s substantive work has centered on cultural change, religion, the family, and recently mainland China.