Pub Date : 2022-05-15DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2069333
M. Blackie
ABSTRACT In this paper, the practice of chemistry is viewed in terms of the interaction of three elements – the physical world (at the molecular level), the conceptual world (the canon of chemistry) and the social world (the community of chemists). This interaction, which is based on critical realist ideas such as, for example, the transitive and intransitive dimensions of reality, affords a clear distinction between the practice of chemistry as science and the practice of chemistry as technology. It also shows the significance of the particularity of the chemist in the practice of chemistry. Finally, it allows a coherent philosophical foundation for chemistry research and chemistry education.
{"title":"An examination of the practice of chemistry through the lens of critical realism","authors":"M. Blackie","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2069333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2069333","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this paper, the practice of chemistry is viewed in terms of the interaction of three elements – the physical world (at the molecular level), the conceptual world (the canon of chemistry) and the social world (the community of chemists). This interaction, which is based on critical realist ideas such as, for example, the transitive and intransitive dimensions of reality, affords a clear distinction between the practice of chemistry as science and the practice of chemistry as technology. It also shows the significance of the particularity of the chemist in the practice of chemistry. Finally, it allows a coherent philosophical foundation for chemistry research and chemistry education.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47053113","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-05DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2057064
H. Buch‐Hansen
ABSTRACT It can be challenging to introduce the philosophy of social science (PoS) to students in the social sciences. Noting the lack of literature providing guidance to the prospective PoS teacher, this paper outlines several pieces of advice on how to engage social science undergraduates in the subject. This advice centres on showing the relevance of the PoS in academia and beyond, reducing complexity and presenting only a few contending PoS perspectives. It is also proposed to use textbooks with caution or avoiding them altogether, illustrating how PoS assumptions are embedded in contemporary social research and showing the connection between the PoS on one hand and research questions, methods, and theory on the other. Finally, the importance of showing students how they can make use of the PoS in their own work and teaching the subject in a ‘hands on’ manner is emphasized.
{"title":"Engaging social science students in the philosophy of science: 10 pieces of advice on how to teach a difficult subject","authors":"H. Buch‐Hansen","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2057064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2057064","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT It can be challenging to introduce the philosophy of social science (PoS) to students in the social sciences. Noting the lack of literature providing guidance to the prospective PoS teacher, this paper outlines several pieces of advice on how to engage social science undergraduates in the subject. This advice centres on showing the relevance of the PoS in academia and beyond, reducing complexity and presenting only a few contending PoS perspectives. It is also proposed to use textbooks with caution or avoiding them altogether, illustrating how PoS assumptions are embedded in contemporary social research and showing the connection between the PoS on one hand and research questions, methods, and theory on the other. Finally, the importance of showing students how they can make use of the PoS in their own work and teaching the subject in a ‘hands on’ manner is emphasized.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47532073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-22DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049088
Dave Elder-Vass
ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between pragmatism and critical realism, first as alternative philosophies for the social sciences in general, and second, as an illustration, in the social study of monetary valuation. The paper argues that both traditions are internally diverse. Hence, the relations between the two are complex, with both substantial overlaps and real differences revealed in encounters between them. Perhaps the most significant difference is pragmatism’s distrust of invocations of structural power in social explanations, whereas realism encourages them, in interaction with other explanatory elements. The paper problematizes claims that recent work in the study of value is predominantly pragmatist. Nevertheless, it argues that pragmatist influence has encouraged valuation studies to focus on the micro level at the expense of the macro. From a realist perspective, however, there is much to be gained from an approach that embraces both micro and macro levels and the relations between them.
{"title":"Pragmatism, critical realism and the study of value","authors":"Dave Elder-Vass","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2049088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2049088","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between pragmatism and critical realism, first as alternative philosophies for the social sciences in general, and second, as an illustration, in the social study of monetary valuation. The paper argues that both traditions are internally diverse. Hence, the relations between the two are complex, with both substantial overlaps and real differences revealed in encounters between them. Perhaps the most significant difference is pragmatism’s distrust of invocations of structural power in social explanations, whereas realism encourages them, in interaction with other explanatory elements. The paper problematizes claims that recent work in the study of value is predominantly pragmatist. Nevertheless, it argues that pragmatist influence has encouraged valuation studies to focus on the micro level at the expense of the macro. From a realist perspective, however, there is much to be gained from an approach that embraces both micro and macro levels and the relations between them.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43668772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-22DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049090
S. Kemp
ABSTRACT This article explores a key difference that Elder-Vass has identified between critical realism and pragmatism: their divergent views on the viability of the concept of social structure. Noting that this is also a point of dispute between critical realists and Actor-Network Theorists, I try to contribute to the debate about social structure by focusing on the question of whether organizations are structures, drawing on the views of a pragmatist-leaning ANT - Bruno Latour - to evaluate those of a critical realist - Dave Elder-Vass. I suggest that Latour's arguments can be used to identify two challenges for Elder-Vass's approach, questioning both whether an organization has a singular structural form and whether organizations have determinable powers and impacts. I then consider whether Latour's approach is vulnerable to critical realist arguments that perspectives which deny the existence of social structure cannot account for long-term stabilities, fail to connect different cases, and are individualistic in character.
摘要本文探讨了埃尔德·瓦斯在批判现实主义和实用主义之间的一个关键区别：他们对社会结构概念的可行性有着不同的看法。注意到这也是批判现实主义者和行动者网络理论家之间的争论点，我试图通过关注组织是否是结构的问题，借鉴实用主义倾向的ANT Bruno Latour的观点，来评估批判现实主义的观点Dave Elder Vass，从而为关于社会结构的辩论做出贡献。我认为，拉图尔的论点可以用来确定埃尔德·瓦斯方法的两个挑战，即质疑一个组织是否具有单一的结构形式，以及组织是否具有可确定的权力和影响。然后，我考虑拉图尔的方法是否容易受到批判现实主义论点的影响，即否认社会结构存在的观点无法解释长期稳定，无法将不同的案例联系起来，并且具有个人主义性质。
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Pub Date : 2022-03-22DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049089
T. Tran, R. Cameron, A. Montague, Nuttawuth Nuenjohn, S. Fan
ABSTRACT This article provides a rationale for adopting the critical realism (CR) instead of pragmatism paradigm when researching skilled migrants' (SMs) workplace integration in Australia. While the extant SM literature has provided an abundance of ‘explanations' reflecting the difficulties SMs face, it appears almost impossible for SMs to overcome some challenges such as discrimination or lack of local work experience. However, there is not a sufficient explanation for why many SMs have successfully integrated within the host labour market despite facing such difficulties. This study was designed to challenge what may have been ‘taken-for-granted' in the literature and explore the causal relationship behind the SMs’ difficulties and success. The CR paradigm provides a new way to examine the problems SMs face and their strategies to overcome such issues. It also empowers researchers to look beyond the empirical layer of evidence and explore how and why things happen the way they do.
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Pub Date : 2022-03-22DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049091
S. Pratten
ABSTRACT Social positioning theory, in defending a general social ontology, is a particular extension of critical realism. It is a theory of social constitution that clarifies how items including human beings and things are relationally organized as instances of community components. This extension of critical realism is directly comparable to fundamental but underexamined contributions of the classical American pragmatist John Dewey and specifically his elaboration of a social ontology incorporating an emphasis upon offices that individuals and things come to occupy. In this paper, it is argued that there are substantial correspondences between social positioning theory and Dewey’s concern with offices that come to be filled. By drawing on social positioning theory the significance of an overlooked feature of Dewey’s social ontology comes to be better appreciated. Equally by conducting this comparison Dewey’s discussion of offices is recognized as anticipating some of the insights that social positioning theory has recently systematised.
{"title":"Social positioning theory and Dewey’s ontology of persons, objects and offices","authors":"S. Pratten","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2049091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2049091","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Social positioning theory, in defending a general social ontology, is a particular extension of critical realism. It is a theory of social constitution that clarifies how items including human beings and things are relationally organized as instances of community components. This extension of critical realism is directly comparable to fundamental but underexamined contributions of the classical American pragmatist John Dewey and specifically his elaboration of a social ontology incorporating an emphasis upon offices that individuals and things come to occupy. In this paper, it is argued that there are substantial correspondences between social positioning theory and Dewey’s concern with offices that come to be filled. By drawing on social positioning theory the significance of an overlooked feature of Dewey’s social ontology comes to be better appreciated. Equally by conducting this comparison Dewey’s discussion of offices is recognized as anticipating some of the insights that social positioning theory has recently systematised.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59980211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-19DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049078
A. Sayer, J. Morgan
ABSTRACT In this wide-ranging interview Andrew Sayer discusses how he became a realist and then the development of his work over the subsequent decades. He comments on his postdisciplinary approach, his early work on economy and its influences, how he came to write Method in Social Science and the transition in Realism and Social Science to normative critical social science and moral economy. The interview concludes with discussion of his three most recent books and the themes that connect them, not least the ongoing problem of a ‘diabolical double crisis’ of capitalism: extreme inequality and climate change.
{"title":"A realist journey through social theory and political economy: an interview with Andrew Sayer","authors":"A. Sayer, J. Morgan","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2049078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2049078","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this wide-ranging interview Andrew Sayer discusses how he became a realist and then the development of his work over the subsequent decades. He comments on his postdisciplinary approach, his early work on economy and its influences, how he came to write Method in Social Science and the transition in Realism and Social Science to normative critical social science and moral economy. The interview concludes with discussion of his three most recent books and the themes that connect them, not least the ongoing problem of a ‘diabolical double crisis’ of capitalism: extreme inequality and climate change.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41490880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-15DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2028233
Dave Elder-Vass, J. Morgan
ABSTRACT In this wide-ranging interview, Dave Elder-Vass discusses his main contributions to critical realist theory over two decades. In the first half, he explains his early work on emergence, agency, structure, the concept of culture and norm circles, as well as his work on a broad array of social theorists and positions. Sometimes this has involved differences with other realists, including Tony Lawson, Margaret Archer, Alison Sealey and Bob Carter, which he also comments on here. In the second half, he discusses the common themes of his two most recent books (focused on economic form and value respectively) and current project (focused on the concept of profit), in which he is developing a critical realist approach to political economy.
{"title":"‘Materially social’ critical realism: an interview with Dave Elder-Vass","authors":"Dave Elder-Vass, J. Morgan","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2028233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2028233","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this wide-ranging interview, Dave Elder-Vass discusses his main contributions to critical realist theory over two decades. In the first half, he explains his early work on emergence, agency, structure, the concept of culture and norm circles, as well as his work on a broad array of social theorists and positions. Sometimes this has involved differences with other realists, including Tony Lawson, Margaret Archer, Alison Sealey and Bob Carter, which he also comments on here. In the second half, he discusses the common themes of his two most recent books (focused on economic form and value respectively) and current project (focused on the concept of profit), in which he is developing a critical realist approach to political economy.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41297818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-15DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2031788
T. Jeffery
ABSTRACT Museum practice remains rooted in its historical ontology of nature-culture dualism. This article moves beyond this dualism by combining Bhaskar’s dialectical MELD schema with cultural historical activity theory. It therefore provides an iterative, practical pathway towards a new, ecological-decolonial mode of museology that potentially disrupts normalized practice and generates new possibilities for museums to offer people agency. A situated turn for museum practice is thus envisioned, with a focus on people as complex social-ecological entities. Specifically, this involves a dialectical relationship between peoples’ stories, or intangible heritage, and the core museum activity of collecting.
{"title":"Towards an eco-decolonial museum practice through critical realism and Cultural Historical Activity Theory","authors":"T. Jeffery","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2031788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2031788","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Museum practice remains rooted in its historical ontology of nature-culture dualism. This article moves beyond this dualism by combining Bhaskar’s dialectical MELD schema with cultural historical activity theory. It therefore provides an iterative, practical pathway towards a new, ecological-decolonial mode of museology that potentially disrupts normalized practice and generates new possibilities for museums to offer people agency. A situated turn for museum practice is thus envisioned, with a focus on people as complex social-ecological entities. Specifically, this involves a dialectical relationship between peoples’ stories, or intangible heritage, and the core museum activity of collecting.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43038601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-01DOI: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2031789
Dave Elder-Vass
ABSTRACT This is an edited transcript of a keynote paper given at IACR's 2021 Annual Conference. The paper outlines a critical realist approach to critique and illustrates its application to the contemporary economy. It argues that responsible, constructive critique depends on ethics, on causal explanation, and on the development of utopian visions. Utopias are tools, and concrete utopias are not visions of whole alternative ready-made societies, but rather partial models that can be built in practice as elements of the larger social world. The argument is illustrated with three cases of digital utopianism, which help to demonstrate the practical challenges facing utopian schemes. Concrete utopias are a vehicle for combining our theoretical understandings of possibilities with an ethical analysis of needs in order to offer practical schemes for improving human flourishing.
{"title":"Ethics and emancipation in action: concrete utopias","authors":"Dave Elder-Vass","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2031789","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2031789","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This is an edited transcript of a keynote paper given at IACR's 2021 Annual Conference. The paper outlines a critical realist approach to critique and illustrates its application to the contemporary economy. It argues that responsible, constructive critique depends on ethics, on causal explanation, and on the development of utopian visions. Utopias are tools, and concrete utopias are not visions of whole alternative ready-made societies, but rather partial models that can be built in practice as elements of the larger social world. The argument is illustrated with three cases of digital utopianism, which help to demonstrate the practical challenges facing utopian schemes. Concrete utopias are a vehicle for combining our theoretical understandings of possibilities with an ethical analysis of needs in order to offer practical schemes for improving human flourishing.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48360624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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