scholarly journals Sustainability as a Real Utopia – Heuristics for transformative sustainability research

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110185
Author(s):  
David Harnesk ◽  
Ellinor Isgren
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Sustainability Research

The idea of ‘Sustainability as a Real Utopia’ elaborated on here adapts sociologist Erik Olin Wright’s emancipatory social science and is a heuristic informed by critical realism and social theory for interdisciplinary research on viable alternatives that move society towards achieving sustainability. Starting from the proposition that many environmental problems are rooted in how social structures and institutions interact with nature by shaping human agency, we argue for concretely situated analysis aimed at guiding human agency towards changing those root causes. Then, drawing on concrete examples from sustainability research, we elaborate on three central tasks: diagnosing and critiquing environmental problems, elaborating viable alternatives and proposing a theory of transformation. Finally, we discuss, and welcome dialogue around two central and interlinked challenges of our approach to transformative sustainability research: that of scales, and that of the distinction and relationship between reforms and transformation.

scholarly journals A Critical Humanist Intervention: Agency, Structure and Values

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 293-310
Author(s):  
Vanesa Amaris
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Moral Dimension ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The main aim of the article is to suggest what and how a contemporary, revised version of humanism, inflected with critical realism and Marxism, can contribute to sociology. I focus primarily on two areas in which sociology is often found lacking today: theorizing the relationship between structure and agency, and deciding what to do with moral evaluations in sociological analyses. I argue that the solution to both lies in attempting to finally transcend the traditionally hostile and mutually exclusive paradigms of “humanist” or “cultural” Marxism on the one side and “anti-humanist” or “scientific” Marxism on the other. This enables us to carefully reinstate the agency of human subjects and the moral dimension, both of which were and still are dismissed by anti- or post-humanist social science, without neglecting the objective and causally relevant existence of social structures at the same time.

Feudal Europe, 800–1300: communal discourse and conflictual practices

1992 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Structural Theory ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Fundamental Significance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Scientific Argument

The discipline of international relations faces a new debate of fundamental significance. After the realist challenge to the pervasive idealism of the interwar years and the social scientific argument against realism in the late 1950s, it is now the turn of critical theorists to dispute the established paradigms of international politics, having been remarkably successful in several other fields of social inquiry. In essence, critical theorists claim that all social reality is subject to historical change, that a normative discourse of understandings and values entails corresponding practices, and that social theory must include interpretation and dialectical critique. In international relations, this approach particularly critiques the ahistorical, scientific, and materialist conceptions offered by neorealists. Traditional realists, by contrast, find a little more sympathy in the eyes of critical theorists because they join them in their rejection of social science and structural theory. With regard to liberal institutionalism, critical theorists are naturally sympathetic to its communitarian component while castigating its utilitarian strand as the accomplice of neorealism. Overall, the advent of critical theory will thus focus the field of international relations on its “interparadigm debate” with neorealism.

Theory, Method, and Social Reproduction in Social Science History: A Short Jeremiad

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-499
Author(s):  
Charles Wetherell
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Formal Methods ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Theory Method ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Science History ◽  
Social Science History ◽  
Collective Enterprise

Let me begin with a simple theme, repentance, and a simple message: repent from complacency in the practice and defense of social science history (SSH). I say this because I do not see social science historians meeting three major challenges that must be overcome if the larger, collective enterprise is to survive with the same vitality it had a decade ago. Those challenges are, first, to bring social theory forcefully back into historical research; second, to take formal methods to a new, higher level; and, third, to seek to train the next generation of social science historians in the theory and methods they will need in the next century.

Markets are constantly collapsing: Reconceptualizing ‘the market’ as a quantum social wavefunction

2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942098782
Author(s):  
Michael Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Broad Framework

The quantum moment in International Relations theory challenges the taken for granted Newtonian assumptions of conventional theories, while offering a novel physical imaginary grounded in quantum mechanics. As part of the special issue on reconceptualizing markets, this article questions if prior efforts to conceptualize ‘the market’ have been unsuccessful at capturing the paradoxical microfoundational/macrostructural because of the Newtonian worldview within which much social science operates. By developing a new, quantum perspective on the market, taking the physical paradigm of the wavefunction, I seek to explore the connections between entanglement, nonlocality, interference and invisible social structures. To demonstrate the applicability of quantum thinking, I explore how global value chains and open economy politics might be ‘quantized’, through the mobilization of core concepts of quantum social theory, within the broad framework of the market as a quantum social wavefunction.

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 Extreme Users

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-405
Author(s):  
Danielle Hildebrandt ◽  
Hanny Hindi
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Methods ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Target Market ◽  
William Gibson ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Innovation Research ◽  
The Future ◽  
Care Innovation

Qualitative segmentation is a blend of art and science. There are a variety of sampling methods researchers use to guarantee a pool of participants that is representative of their target market. But for innovation research, we suggest ignoring those squarely in the middle of your target market. Instead, look to extreme users who are indicative of the future. As William Gibson famously put it: “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.” We believe that extreme users live where the future has already arrived. In addition, these users are more articulate about their problems or needs, and more likely to employ innovative workarounds and hacks. Extreme behaviors are powerful examples of human agency and the ability to challenge and transform dominant social structures. We will explore this framework with three case-study examples: Looking to transmen and transwomen for feminine care innovation, Hikikomori for future social spaces, and the Amish for clothing sustainability.

scholarly journals Samfundsforskning og tekst - det skotske tilfælde som metodisk problem

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Henrik Halkier
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Post Graduate ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Relationship

The present paper explores some possible links between linguistics and social science, departing from an example of textual analysis originating in research in progress. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of historical textual analysis and to the relationship between social phenomena and the concepts employed by social scientists. It is argued that the presence of common theoretical problems and shared methodologies provides an interesting starting point for future interdisciplinary research and for up-to-date teaching of post-graduate students.

The New Sociology: Essays in Social Science and Social Theory in Honor of C. Wright Mills

1964 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 554
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Roucek ◽  
Irving Louis Horowitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory

Energy Consumption as Part of Social Practices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Horta
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Practice Turn

This chapter examines social practices as an alternative and promising approach to conventional social science research on energy consumption. It highlights the emergence of practice theory in social science research on energy consumption that focuses on the interaction between social structures and everyday life, including materiality. After providing an overview of the evolution of social science research on energy consumption, the chapter summarizes the “practice turn” in sociology and its extension to research on energy consumption. It then considers the most prominent features of practice theory used in the field of research on energy consumption and concludes by describing the process of formation of the practice of managing the mobile phone as an example of how energy consumption can be analyzed using a practice theory approach.

Roy Bhaskar’s Critical Realism and the Social Science of Marxian Economics

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Westra
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Marxian Economics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Scientific

This article supports claims that critical realism philosophy of science, as refounded in the hands of Roy Bhaskar, offers valuable knowledge enhancing insight into the advancement of Marx’s research program. However, it maintains that key principles set out by Bhaskar have not been adequately assimilated by those working with critical realism in the field of Marxist studies. When they are properly considered, they point to the necessity of reconstructing Marx’s corpus on a divergent basis from the conventional form it has assumed since the codification of “Marxism” by Karl Kautsky in the late nineteenth century as an overarching theory of history or historical materialism, wherein Marx’s economic studies in Capital are portrayed as but a subtheory. The article summarily breaks down three cardinal scientific principles elaborated by Bhaskar, which carry the most vital implications for Marxism. These are the bringing of ontology “back in” to theory construction, the robust case made for social science as a capital-S science, and the specification of retroduction as strategy for scientific discovery. It then explores the principles with regard to three abiding and interrelated questions of the Marxist research program: first is the very condition of intelligibility of economic theory; second is the question of the raison d’être for the dialectical architecture of Capital; third is the social scientific implications of the cognitive sequence in Marxism. In this endeavor the article introduces work in the Uno-Sekine tradition of Japanese Marxism. It shows how Uno’s reconstruction of Marxism is closely supported by Bhaskar’s fundamental criteria for science in a way that serves to strengthen Marx’s own scientific claims for his work.JEL Classification: B51, B400

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