scholarly journals Mechanism, process and the wider context of economic geography

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie MacLeavy
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Methodological Development ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This commentary responds to Henry Wai-chung Yeung’s call to develop clearer causal explanations in geography through mechanism-based thinking. His suggested use of a critical realist framework to ground geographical research on economies is, on one level, appealing and may help to counteract taken-for-granted assumptions about socio-spatial conditions and the significance of economic structures for everyday lived experiences. However, the general lack of applied critical realist research means the distinction between ‘mechanism’ and ‘process’ is often difficult to define in analyses of specific empirical events or geographical episodes. Not only is there a need for methodological development but, I suggest, also for greater recognition of critical realism as a reflective practice. We need to consider the means by which scholars distinguish between contingent and necessary relations, identify structures and counterfactuals and infer how mechanisms work out in particular places. The critical realist goal of advancing transformative change through the provision of causal explanation relies upon inferences made on the basis of researcher experience. Hence, we need to recognise that research is always a political practice and be careful not to discount knowledge borne from other analytical approaches.

scholarly journals Context sensitivity and economic-geographic (re)theorising

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiwen Gong ◽  
Robert Hassink
Keyword(s):  
Economic Geography ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Continuous Application ◽  
Development Perspective

Abstract Drawing upon critical realism and the literature on theorising in social sciences, this article contributes to the understanding of theorising in economic geography by highlighting the role of context throughout the theory development process. By critically reviewing two key concepts in economic geography—related variety and knowledge bases—from a critical realist theory development perspective, scholars’ sensitivity to local context through the whole theorising process is examined. We argue that the particular strength of economic geography with regard to advancing theory lies in the continuous application of concepts and theories (that is, generalities) within new contexts (that is, confrontation with new particularities).

Understanding the complexity of domestic violence service delivery through the lived experiences of domestic violence advocates

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110416
Author(s):  
Ga-Young Choi ◽  
Soonok An ◽  
Hyungak Cho ◽  
Eun Koh
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Victim Blaming ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Domestic Violence Survivors ◽  
Domestic Violence Services

This qualitative research explored the lived experiences of domestic violence advocates to better understand the elements involved in domestic violence service delivery in the United States, focusing on positive and challenging aspects of their work. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 advocates who assisted domestic violence survivors. Advocates’ persistent engagement in reflective practice and advocacy for the survivors against a victim-blaming culture were identified as important elements in delivering multi-faceted domestic violence services. Implications for social work and domestic violence practice in improving domestic violence service delivery for the survivors are discussed.

scholarly journals Converting Consumerism: A Liturgical-Ethical Application of Critical Realism

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Benjamin Durheim
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Liturgical Theology ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Christian Conversion ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Concrete Application

Critical realism as a lens of thought is not new to theological inquiry, but recently a growing number of theologians have been using its conceptual frameworks to guide their thought on how social structures function theologically, and how ethics might function in light of its insights. This article pulls these developments into the nexus of liturgy and ethics, applying critical realist categories to contemporary understandings of how liturgical celebration (and the structures thereof) form, inform, and/or malform Christian ethical imaginations and practices. The article begins with a brief survey of the main tenets of critical realism and their histories in theological inquiry, and argues that a main gift critical realism can offer liturgical and sacramental theology is a structural understanding of liturgical narrative- and value-building. Having described this gift, the article moves to a concrete application of this method in liturgical theology and its implications for ethics: addressing consumerism as a culture that can be both validated and challenged by liturgical and sacramental structures. The article ends with some brief suggestions for using and shifting liturgical structures to better facilitate the Christian conversion of consumerism.

scholarly journals Loss and assimilation: Lived experiences of Brexit for British nationals living in Luxembourg

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Maria Knight ◽  
Dean Fido ◽  
Henry William Lennon ◽  
Craig A. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Political Realities

Inconsistent political realities are associated with mental health issues such as hopelessness, anxiety, and depression. The psychological impact of Brexit is clearly an important and timely issue, but hitherto has been understudied. This study uses a critical realist approach to qualitatively explore the lived experiences of British Citizens living in Luxembourg during the Brexit era. The study carried out semi-structured interviews with 8 British nationals aged 18-65. An experientially-focused Thematic Analysis was conducted, exploring two main themes: Loss (with psychological and broader social implications) and Integration (contrasting the mover's community with the receiving community). This study demonstrates the psychological impact of Brexit and highlights the urgency for future researchers and mental health practitioners alike – both in the UK and overseas – to consider the human consequences associated with political upheaval. Open access materials for this project can be viewed here: https://osf.io/38rg7/?view_only=b8c04dfc3fe5474f9aff4897e370b3e6.

The SoSM Revisited-A Critical Realist Perspective

2011 ◽  
pp. 122-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Defining System ◽  
Emancipatory Practice ◽  
Framework System ◽  
Realist Perspective

The chapter revisits the System of System Methodologies (SoSM) and suggests that use of the SoSM as a framework for defining methodological assumptions is difficult when the concerned methodologies have significantly different meanings for one axis of the framework—“system” complexity. It is suggested that the purpose of the underlying system can provide a more appropriate frame for defining system approaches—such purpose being defined as interaction or transformation (Mathiassen & Nielsen, 2000). The chapter also uses aspects of critical realism to provide insights into the SoSM and the critical theory underpinning the framework. The SoSM helped to highlight the neglect of coercive situations and ultimately helped prompt the development of critical systems theory which is focused on three basic commitments, critical awareness, methodological pluralism, and emancipation. Maru and Woodford (2001) recently argue that the focus on emancipation has been relegated due to a concentration on pluralism. This chapter suggests that this is a logical outcome of the epistemological focus of the underlying critical theory of Habermas. The Habermas focus on the epistemological or knowledge-based aspects of the development process must necessarily relegate the importance of ontological matters such as the conditions necessary for emancipatory practice. This chapter proposes that the philosophy of critical realism has insights to offer through its highlighting of the ontological issues in more detail and in arguing for a recognition of the deep structures and mechanisms involved in social situations.

Critical Realism

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-72
Author(s):  
Dominik Giese ◽  
Jonathan Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Real ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Ontological Question ◽  
The World

This chapter evaluates critical realism, a term which refers to a philosophy of science connected to the broader approach of scientific realism. In contrast to other philosophies of science, such as positivism and post-positivism, critical realism presents an alternative view on the questions of what is ‘real’ and how one can generate scientific knowledge of the ‘real’. How one answers these questions has implications for how one studies science and society. The critical realist answer starts by prioritizing the ontological question over the epistemological one, by asking: What must the world be like for science to be possible? Critical realism holds the key ontological belief of scientific realism that there is a reality which exists independent of our knowledge and experience of it. Critical realists posit that reality is more complex, and made up of more than the directly observable. More specifically, critical realism understands reality as ‘stratified’ and composed of three ontological domains: the empirical, the actual, and the real. Here lies the basis for causation.

Basic critical realist concepts

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-64
Author(s):  
Priscilla Alderson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Levels Of Reality ◽  
Closed Systems ◽  
Natural Necessity ◽  
Generative Mechanisms

Chapter 2 sets out basic critical realism concepts to show how they help to resolve the problems examined in Chapter 1. The concepts or themes include: the need to separate ontology-being from epistemology-thinking; the transitive and intransitive; the semiotic triangle; open and closed systems and demi-regs; the possibility of naturalism; natural necessity or the three levels of reality, the empirical, actual and real; a detailed example of the three levels in Mexican neonatal research; retroduction; creative power1 and coercive power2; time sequencing; political economy; the search for generative mechanisms; dichotomies, and policy.

Critical Realism and Contrastive Ethnography

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-184
Author(s):  
Claire Laurier Decoteau
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Treatment Protocol ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Extended Case Method ◽  
Somali Refugee ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Method Approach ◽  
Mainstream Science

Though critical realism has been featured in sociological debates about the philosophy of science, its relevance to methodological considerations, and especially to ethnographic scholarship, is quite limited. This chapter combines an extended case method approach to ethnography with a critical realist approach to comparison. Critical realism augments ethnographic comparison in two ways: 1) by showing that one can compare across both events and causal mechanisms due to ontological stratification; and 2) by considering the conjunctural and contingent nature of causality. However, critical realism’s emphasis on causality is also complicated by ethnographic research, which sheds light on the mutual causal relationship between structures and actors. This chapter, therefore, considers what critical realism has to offer ethnography and what ethnography, in turn, offers critical realism. It does so by comparing the experiences and beliefs of Somali refugee communities in Minneapolis and Toronto, who are contending with high rates of autism spectrum disorder and have forged epistemic communities united around an etiology, ontology, and treatment protocol that challenges mainstream science.

Is, ought and being careful what you wish for

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Whiteside
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Rigor Mortis ◽  
Geographical Analysis ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Realist Ontology

This brief commentary on Henry Wai-chung Yeung’s “Rethinking Mechanism and Process in the Geographical Analysis of Uneven Development” makes three points. First, the commentary supports the article’s assertions that ‘analytical rigor’ is compromised when process and mechanism are conflated, that causal mechanisms are under- theorized in much economic geography, and that a latent realist ontology often lurks beneath interpretive and process-based approaches. Second, it explores the inherent hurdles that a revival of critical realism presents for efforts of engaged pluralism given geography’s contending perspectives on ontology and epistemology and multiple social and substantive theories. Third, the commentary concludes with a hopeful yet cautionary tale of what multidisciplinary engagement on causal mechanisms might entail given the ‘rigor mortis’ mainstream orthodoxy elsewhere in the social sciences.

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