Critical Theory in Research

Based on critical theory, this chapter focuses on the first generation of Frankfurt School (mainly to authors such as T.W. Adorno, M. Horkheimer, and W. Benjamin). For discussing methodology in research, these authors are considered more representative than the younger generation (e.g., Habermas and Honneth) mainly because of the renewed interest in the direct critique of society and because of the failure of the younger generation to produce empirical research. The proponents of critical theory establish connections between theory and practice, in the sense that the social content of research must have human dignity at its centre. The difference between method-led and content-led research is discussed and considered central for this kind of approach to empirical research. Feminist research methodologies and critical race methodology are considered as closely associated with critical theory. These different approaches have developed autonomously from critical theory and are not directly related to it. However, feminist research methodologies and critical race methodology are expounded here because of their similarities to the critical theory of the Frankfurt School aimed at providing an emancipatory approach to empirical research.

The Equity Paradox Typology: An Application of Critical Race Methodology to Redress Racial Harm Against Faculty of Color

This inquiry unearths the stratified nature of racial harm in higher education by applying counterstorytelling to fashion an equity case study on racial harm. Racial harm consists of four conditions (hyper-cognition, hyper-isolation, hyper-distress, and hyper-reactivity) brought on by persistent exposure to racial discrimination embedded subtlety within academic departments as a series of racialized conflicts (diversity & curriculum clashes, and relational & power dynamics). To advance the use of qualitative research to end racism in higher education, we offer a true-telling framework, a guide for talking back, a research typology to unearth the pandemic of racism infecting faculty relations.

To Serve and Protect Whom? Using Composite Counter-Storytelling to Explore Black and Indigenous Youth Experiences and Perceptions of the Police in Canada

Research based in the US and Britain have established that perceptions of the police are particularly low among youth and racialized communities. However, by contrast, little is known about racialized youth perceptions of the police within Canada. Due to formal and informal bans on the collection of race-based data, Canada maintains its international reputation as a tolerant multicultural society. Using the critical race methodology of composite counter-storytelling, this paper will highlight the perspectives of Black and Indigenous youth and explore their experiences with law enforcement. This aims to counter Canada’s international status as a multicultural utopia and demonstrate how legal criminal justice actors, such as the police, perpetuate the marginalized status of Black and Indigenous youth through the process of criminalization.

Critical Theory in Research

Based on critical theory, this chapter focuses on the first generation of Frankfurt School (mainly to authors such as T.W. Adorno, M. Horkheimer, and W. Benjamin). For discussing methodology in research, these authors are considered more representative than the younger generation (e.g., Habermas and Honneth) mainly because of the renewed interest in the direct critique of society and because of the failure of the younger generation to produce empirical research. The proponents of critical theory establish connections between theory and practice, in the sense that the social content of research must have human dignity at its centre. The difference between method-led and content-led research is discussed and considered central for this kind of approach to empirical research. Feminist research methodologies and critical race methodology are considered as closely associated with critical theory. These different approaches have developed autonomously from critical theory and are not directly related to it. However, feminist research methodologies and critical race methodology are expounded here because of their similarities to the critical theory of the Frankfurt School aimed at providing an emancipatory approach to empirical research.