{"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":"21 1","pages":"261 - 287"},"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}
T. Tran, R. Cameron, A. Montague, Nuttawuth Nuenjohn, S. Fan
{"title":"Skilled migrant workplace integration: the choice between pragmatism and critical realism approaches","authors":"T. Tran, R. Cameron, A. Montague, Nuttawuth Nuenjohn, S. Fan","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2049089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2049089","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 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.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":"21 1","pages":"331 - 351"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46756474","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}
{"title":"Organizational de-structuring? Latour’s potential contribution to the critical realist – pragmatist dispute","authors":"S. Kemp","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2022.2049090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2022.2049090","url":null,"abstract":"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.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":"21 1","pages":"309 - 330"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43320890","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}
{"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":"21 1","pages":"288 - 308"},"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}
{"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":"21 1","pages":"434 - 470"},"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}
{"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":"171 1-2","pages":"211 - 246"},"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}
{"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":"21 1","pages":"170 - 195"},"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}
{"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":"21 1","pages":"539 - 551"},"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}
Teofilo Giovan S. Pugeda III, Angelo Julian E. Perez
{"title":"Moral Agency Within Social Structures and Culture: A Primer on Critical Realism for Christian Ethics","authors":"Teofilo Giovan S. Pugeda III, Angelo Julian E. Perez","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2021.2024994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2021.2024994","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":"21 1","pages":"471 - 476"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41780770","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}
Lamia Irfan, Muzammil Quraishi, Mallory Schneuwly Purdie, M. Wilkinson
{"title":"The primacy of ontology: a philosophical basis for research on religion in prison","authors":"Lamia Irfan, Muzammil Quraishi, Mallory Schneuwly Purdie, M. Wilkinson","doi":"10.1080/14767430.2021.2007463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2021.2007463","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper suggests philosophical foundations for mixed methods research based on the philosophy of critical realism. In particular, it suggests that the critical realist idea of the primacy of ontology helps bridge the apparent paradigmatic gap between qualitative and quantitative research. It illustrates this foundational idea by showing why and how a multi-disciplinary team used a mixed methods approach to understand the significance of religion in prison through a multi-site study of religious conversion to Islam in prison and how this gives a better account than a single method approach. The mixed method research design used in the project sets out a new way of mapping and understanding religious conversion and differences within a faith group that draws on the emancipatory potential of critical realist thought.","PeriodicalId":45557,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Critical Realism","volume":"21 1","pages":"145 - 169"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42155625","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}