Critical Realism, Human Rights, and Emotion: How an Emotive Ontology Can Resolve the Tensions Between Universalism and Relativism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Luongo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Critical Realism

scholarly journals Developing a critical realist informed framework to explain how the human rights and social determinants of health relationship works

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Haigh ◽  
Lynn Kemp ◽  
Patricia Bazeley ◽  
Neil Haigh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Background That there is a relationship between human rights and health is well established and frequently discussed. However, actions intended to take account of the relationship between human rights and social determinants of health have often been limited by lack of clarity and ambiguity concerning how these rights and determinants may interact and affect each other. It is difficult to know what to do when you do not understand how things work. As our own understanding of this consideration is founded on perspectives provided by the critical realist paradigm, we present an account of and commentary on our application of these perspectives in an investigation of this relationship. Findings We define the concept of paradigm and review critical realism and related implications for construction of knowledge concerning this relationship. Those implications include the need to theorise possible entities involved in the relationship together with their distinctive properties and consequential power to affect one another through exercise of their respective mechanisms (ways of working). This theorising work enabled us identify a complex, multi-layered assembly of entities involved in the relationship and some of the array of causal mechanisms that may be in play. These are presented in a summary framework. Conclusion Researchers’ views about the nature of knowledge and its construction inevitably influence their research aims, approaches and outcomes. We demonstrate that by attending to these views, which are founded in their paradigm positioning, researchers can make more progress in understanding the relationship between human rights and the social determinants of health, in particular when engaged in theorizing work. The same approaches could be drawn on when other significant relationships in health environments are investigated.

scholarly journals Young Children’s Human Rights: a sociological analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Alderson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Inalienable Rights ◽  
Human Family

Children tend to be missing from the literature on human rights. Sociology can help to fill the gap by providing evidence about the importance and benefits of recognising children's human rights, the dangers of not doing so, and joint rights-promoting work by adults and children. However, sociology has paid relatively little attention to human rights, and to the related topics of the Holocaust, human nature, real bodies, universal principles and moral imperatives. This paper examines splits in sociology around a central absence, which could partly explain these omissions. Then it considers how inter-disciplinary approaches and critical realism can help to theorise and validate “the inherent dignity and…the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”. The youngest children's rights illuminate meanings in all human rights, which depend less on the rational person approach than on recognising human nature, vulnerability and solidarity interacting with social structures.

scholarly journals International human rights, citizenship education, and critical realism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Alderson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
International Human ◽  
High Standards

Citizenship education invokes dilemmas even for the most committed teachers and students, researchers, and innovators. How can citizenship education advance equity and equal rights within highly unequal schools and societies? How can it support young people to feel they have the competence, confidence, and right to vote and to challenge injustice? How can we be sure international human rights are realities, not merely passing ideologies? This paper argues that rights really exist as expressions of visceral embodied human needs and moral desires that are integral to human relationships. Rights also serve as powerful legal structures that can help to prevent and remedy wrongs, and they work as enduring high standards and aspirations. The paper suggests how critical realism can help educators to resolve dilemmas in theoretical education about rights as knowledge, principles, and mechanisms, and in practical education that enables students to enjoy and exercise their rights and respect those of other people.

scholarly journals Understanding the Impact of Independent Human Rights Institutions for Children: A European Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-372
Author(s):  
Sara Imanian ◽  
Nigel Patrick Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Appreciative Inquiry ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
European Study ◽  
European Network ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
The Impact

This article reports a study of the impact of independent human rights institutions for children, using methods drawn from critical realism and appreciative inquiry. A survey of member institutions of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children enquired into the contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of their work. The results showed wide variation in the situation, aims and methods of working of the institutions, along with some strong commonalities. The survey was followed by two in-depth case studies, to explore how staff and external stakeholders understood and evaluated the impact of their work. A conclusion was that the impact of such institutions has to be understood in a grounded way, and pre-designed general indicators are therefore of limited value. One product of the research is a template, developed collaboratively with the institutions, which can be used to understand and evaluate the effectiveness of their work.

Human Rights and Law

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Kumar Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights
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