A post by Paige Sweet. Critical realism shares a natural post-positivist alliance with postcolonial studies and feminist standpoint theory. All three paradigms offer a sharp critique of positivism – its neutral masquerade, its valorization of detached inquiry, its empiricism, its… Read More »Julian Go’s Post-Positivist, Postcolonial Realism
One does not associate the term “realism” with CW Mills. Conventionally, pragmatism is his home. But, that’s mostly because no one (but the kids) took a peace-oriented realist seriously. Indeed, after reading The Causes of World War III there can be little doubt that Mills was a realist. A quick example, that I’ll deal with in more detail below…
This is a guest blog post from Emma Greeson as part of our “Dear Sociologist” series. Emma is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. Her work focuses on exchange and valuation, bringing… Read More »Facts and values in Trumpology: the case for realism
As a result of a series of workshops undertaken over the course of the year, a group of us decided to sit down and have a frank discussion about ethnography; both our own personal experiences as we have gone about… Read More »Six Epistemic Challenges for Ethnographers (and how critical realism might help)
There has been a lot of discussion in critical realist circles about whether it is possible to reconcile the work of Margaret Archer and Pierre Bourdieu, two of the great social theorists of recent memory. The main contours of the… Read More »A tale of two systems: The perennial debate about Archer and Bourdieu
Dear Sociologist, I have been thinking over your article’s recent rejection, your gripes about the field, and the trouble with academic publishing. I am of the opinion that academic sociology journals may never deliver us what we really want —… Read More »Listen Sociologist! The Post-Positivist Revolution in Sociology
We are pleased to announce the launch of the CRITICAL REALISM NETWORK – ASIA PACIFIC (CRN-AP) which is network of educators, philosophers, social scientists and thinkers, living and working in the Asia Pacific region, who are committed to engendering a rich exchange of… Read More »Announcing the launch of the Critical Realism Network – Asia Pacific
This is a guest blog post written by Joselito Ranara JIMENEZ from Osaka, Japan, who presented at the Beyond Positivism: Theory, Methods, and Values in Social Science Conference in Montreal, Canada in August 2017. This post first appeared on http://www.critrealap.net With… Read More »Two Key Takeaways From The Beyond Positivism Conference by a Critical Realist Orphan in Japan
***** In this guest post, Simeon J. Newman and George Steinmetz reflect on some of the recent discussions about critical realism and present their own perspective on what they consider to be the essentials of a critical realist position****** The… Read More »“Beyond Strawmen and Red Herrings: What Are the Essentials of Critical Realism?” by Simeon Newman and George Steinmetz
A post by Tim Rutzou. In a recent review of the 2015 books Reconstructing Sociology: The Critical Realist Approach by Douglas V. Porpora and The Relational Subject by Pierpaolo Donati and Margaret S. Archer, Neil Gross “rips critical realism a new one”. Gross takes aim at… Read More »The royal road to sociological truth? Is there a need for critical realism?