Recasting the Treadmills of Production and Destruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-76
Author(s):  
Gregory Hooks ◽  
Michael Lengefeld ◽  
Chad L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Historical Contingency ◽  
Unitary Theory ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Treadmill Of Production ◽  
Generative Mechanisms

We revisit and recast two prominent theories of environmental degradation: the treadmill of production and the treadmill of destruction. This recasting is guided by critical realism, focused on theorizing generative mechanisms that produce and shape empirical events. Our theorization is informed by Marxist and Weberian insights into environmental sociology contributions. In this critical realist recasting, the treadmill of production and the treadmill of destruction are conceived of as generative mechanisms. A treadmill refers to a process in which powerful organizations appropriate nature to amass power and capital. These organizations degrade the environment, and they suppress and distort information about the environmental damage they cause. The macrosocial context, the organizations at the center of them, and the elites that command these organizations make these treadmills distinct. A treadmill spans the biophysical and the social/cultural realms. Whereas the biophysical is necessary for the social/cultural realm to exist, it exists independent of human knowledge of this realm. As such, historical contingency and social change are at the center of analysis when studying the waxing, waning, transformation, and demise of treadmills. Adopting a critical realist stance, future theorization and research can and should engage a wide range of theories advanced in environmental sociology. The goal is not to establish the single best unitary theory, but to identify and gain insight into the generative mechanisms that shape and constrain human interactions with the environment.

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.

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.

Critical Realism for Ethnography

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Banfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Sociological Practice ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theoretical Developments ◽  
British Philosopher

While specific applications of critical realism to ethnography are few, theoretical developments are promising and await more widespread development. This is especially the case for progressive and critical forms of ethnography that strive to be, in critical realist terms, an “emancipatory science.” However, the history of ethnography reveals that both the field and its emancipatory potential are limited by methodological tendencies toward “naïve realism” and “relativism.” This is the antimony of ethnography. The conceptual and methodological origins of ethnography are grounded in the historical tensions between anti-naturalist Kantian idealism and hyper-naturalist Humean realism. The resolution of these tensions can be found in the conceptual resources of critical realism. Working from, and building upon, the work of British philosopher Roy Bhaskar, critical realism is a movement in the philosophy of science that transcends the limits of Kantian idealism and Humean realism via an emancipatory anti-positivist naturalism. Critical realism emerged as part of the post-positivist movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. From its Marxian origins, critical realism insists that all science, including the social sciences, must be emancipatory. At its essence, this requires taking ontology seriously. The call of critical realism to ethnographers, like all social scientists, is that while they must hold to epistemological caution this does not warrant ontological shyness. Furthermore, critical realism’s return to ontology implies that ethnographers must be ethically serious. Ethnography, if it is to hold to its progressive inclinations, must be about something. Critical realism for ethnography pushes the field to see itself as more than a sociological practice. Rather, it is to be understood as a social practice for something: the universalizing of human freedom.

Using critical realism in critical accounting research – a commentary by two ANTs

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 655-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baxter ◽  
Wai Fong Chua
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Modell’s arguments regarding the relative usefulness of critical realist philosophy in relation to actor-network theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors outline the challenges in applying critical realism to critical accounting. The authors then consider Modell’s criticisms of actor-network theory, providing a counterargument highlighting the methodological choices distinguishing actor-network theory from critical realism.FindingsThe authors argue that critical realism, whilst providing an interesting addition to the critical accounting research project, confronts challenges disentangling intransitive and transitive forms of knowledge. Actor-network theory is presented as a way of examining accounting practices as local associations, providing practical opportunities to study (the assembly of) “the social”.Research limitations/implicationsMethodological diversity is to be explored, acknowledging the ontological politics of our choices.Originality/valueThis paper is an original commentary contributing to critical accounting research.

scholarly journals Fallibilism and Ontology in Tuukka Kaidesoja’s Critical Realist Social Ontology

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Little
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Causal Powers ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Naturalistic Approach ◽  
The Social

AbstractThis article addresses Tuukka Kaidesoja’s critique of the philosophical presuppositions of Roy Bhaskar’s theories of critical realism. The article supports Kaidesoja’s naturalistic approach to the philosophy of the social sciences, including the field of social ontology. The article discusses the specific topics of fallibilism, emergence, and causal powers. I conclude that Kaidesoja’s book is a valuable contribution to current debates over critical realism.

A Critical Look at Critical Realism: Some Observations on the Problems of the Metatheory

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Käpylä ◽  
Harri Mikkola
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Turn

International Relations as a scientific discipline can be considered elusive and, in a sense, “under debate.” A distinctive feature of the theoretical debates of the discipline has been the various calls for different kinds of theoretical and metatheoretical “turns.” In this atmosphere, the return of ontologically oriented IR theorizing based on Critical Realism has increased in influence. The aim of this article is to problematize some of the formulations of Critical Realist metatheory, especially in relation to the notions of correspondence, retroduction and emergence. The article will argue that in the context of the social sciences, two things are highly problematic. The first problem is the quest for establishing “heavy ontological furniture” as a backbone for scientific research. The second problem is the attempt to combine the fallibility of human knowledge with the “getting things right” attitude based on correspondence-like concepts of truth. The article concludes with a recommendation for a healthy caution towards the Critical Realist aspiration for the “ontological turn” in the social sciences.

scholarly journals Critical realism, mimetic theory and social work

2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732110088
Author(s):  
Stan Houston ◽  
Calvin Swords
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Mimetic Theory ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Realist Ontology

Summary Scapegoating is a ubiquitous, yet pernicious, phenomenon in today’s world. It manifests in innumerable ways. Social work, in line with its emancipatory value-base, seeks to engage with various scapegoated groups to challenge the experience. In this article, the authors draw on critical realism and mimetic theory to elucidate the causative mechanisms fuelling scapegoating. This is done in order to heighten social workers’ insight into the process and empower targeted groups. Findings Mimetic theory highlights that scapegoating is a product of desire, rivalry and deflection. These are deep-seated mechanisms that are compatible with critical realist ontology and its search for causative properties in the social world. It is argued that critical realism augments mimetic theory by setting it within a much wider and deeper context of understanding. As such, it emphasizes intersecting causes and contingencies such as the role of temporal and spatial factors shaping the scapegoating experience. Applications Social workers can transform these theoretical insights into sensitizing constructs when they facilitate self-directed groupwork with scapegoated groups. Being theoretically informed, they can pose critical questions to group members to assist them to make the link between personal problems and political issues. The aim is to empower these groups so that they can embrace the sociological imagination and act for change.

Museums for the Planet : Critical Realist Philosophy and the Possibility of an Eco-decolonial Museology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Thomas Carnegie Jeffery
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Museum Practice

This study introduces dialectical critical realism into museology as a philosophical underlabourer for the development of new theoretical potentials for the transformation of museum practice. The idea of the museum is in a moment of fluidity evident in emergent decolonial and ecological perspectives and in the International Council of Museum’s process of redefinition of the museum. The potential to reimagine the museum lacks a coherent philosophical and theoretical foundation. The persistence of museological dualism separates the social from the ecological and absents the emergence of relational modes of thinking and practice. This study conceives an ecological-decolonial or eco-decolonial mode of museology that is disruptive of dualism and generative of relationality, and is thus generative of agency for deeper, more effective and enduring social-ecological justice. The core of this thesis is the development of the eco-decolonial mode of museology through the DCR onto-axiological chain or ‘MELD’ schema. At 1M a depth ontological analysis augmented by interviews with key informants establishes a dialectic of society and ecology in the museological context. 1M surfaces capitalism and the implicit neoliberal ontology of museology as deep causal mechanisms of the 2E persistence of museological human-nature dualism. The paradox of ‘emancipatory neoliberalism’ is a policy-practice contradiction that absents potentials for transformation of the museum and that is held in place by the grounding ontological activity of museology, collection. The 2E perspective on absences enables the emergence of new transformative pathways towards the 3L vision of the eco-decolonial mode of museology as a (4D) new way of thinking and working to resolve neoliberal restrictions. The fundamental 4D change envisioned for museum philosophy, theory and practice is an ontological transformation from traditionalist human-nature dualism to a progressive human-nature dialectic. A case study considers instances where museum workers exercised the agency to expand practice in this way. Future work using the expansive learning methodology of Change Laboratories will develop and implement the potentials generated by the onto-axiological chain for the eco-decolonial mode to bring real change to traditional, dualist museum practice, in order to ensure the relevance and the agency of the museum as a social structure in and for a changing world.

scholarly journals A Critical Realist Review of Pre-Registration Nursing Student Stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Phil Coleman ◽  
Gillian Vance
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Nursing Student ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Realist Review ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Student Stress ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Nursing Student Stress

This Critical Realist review recognises the transitional challenge faced by all undergraduates on their path to becoming qualified practitioners but draws attention to the particularly high levels of student stress associated with the experience of learners who enrol on pre-registration nursing programmes. It also examines international evidence of factors which contribute to such stress. Professional opinion, reports, qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research is thematically presented to indicate the wide range of educational, social, environmental, intrapersonal and interpersonal variables that contribute to pre-registration nursing student stress. Congruent with the principles of Critical Realism, the paper also identifies several emerging fields associated with student nurse stressors that are worthy of further investigation due to an apparent paucity of published work. Finally, the authors briefly highlight their own research activity currently underway to extend the body of knowledge in these areas and in so doing seek to help address student retention issues within nursing.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial agency and field relations: A Realist Bourdieusian Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Vincent ◽  
Victoria Pagan
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
The North ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
The Social

This article addresses the problem of understanding and assessing how entrepreneurial and self-employed workers engage with economic fields as they pursue their interests. It considers the differing experiences of entrepreneurial workers by developing a transferable approach to studying the relations between their environments, practices and values. The approach developed combines Bourdieusian and critical realist scholarship to explore qualitative data about the networking practices of 25 self-employed and entrepreneurial human resource consultants who competed in a conurbation in the North of England. We argue that the form of analysis that develops, which we call Realist Bourdieusian Analysis, reveals more about the causal properties of the social formations entrepreneurial workers navigate than analyses that are limited within each lexicon. Arguably, combining Bourdieusian analysis and critical realism enriches our understanding of the constituent parts of economic fields, the resources entrepreneurial workers access through them, and agents’ relations, experiences and reflexive struggles. This novel approach, we argue, facilitates deeper appreciation of these workers’ experiences and more insightful critique of existing supports to entrepreneurship, as well as the possibility of prescribing policy supports that might enable workers within the field studied. The analysis concludes by highlighting the practical, theoretical and methodological contributions of this research.

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