Critical Realism,Dialectics, and Qualitative Research Methods

Critical realism has been an important advance in social science methodology because it develops a qualitative theory of causality which avoids some of the pitfalls of empiricist theories of causality. But while there has been ample work exploring the relationship between critical realism and qualitative research methods there has been noticeably less work exploring the relationship between dialectical critical realism and qualitative research methods. This seems strange especially since the founder of the philosophy of critical realism, Roy Bhaskar, employs and develops a range of dialectical concepts in his later work in order to extend the main tenets of critical realism. The aim of this paper is to draw on Bhaskar's later work, as well as Marxism, to reorient a critical realist methodology towards a dialectical approach for qualitative research. In particular, the paper demonstrates how dialectical critical realism can begin to provide answers to three common criticisms made against original critical realist methodology: that the qualitative theory of causal powers and structures developed by critical realists is problematic; that critical realist methodology contains values which prove damaging to empirical research; and that critical realists often have difficulties in researching everyday qualitative dilemmas that people face in their daily lives.     

Sequential decision making without independence: a new conceptual approach

This paper presents a critical reflection on dynamic consistency as commonly used in economics and decision theory, and on the difficulty to test it experimentally. It distinguishes between the uses of the term dynamic consistency in order to characterize two different properties: the first accounts for the neutrality of individual preferences towards the timing of resolution of uncertainty whereas the second guarantees that a strategy chosen at the beginning of a sequential decision problem is immune to any reevaluation and will effectively be implemented from then on in the decision problem. Although these two properties are equivalent under expected utility (EU), this is not the case under non-EU. Building on the possible characteristics of individual dynamic preferences under risk, this paper proposes a conceptual categorization, that is experimentally testable, of possible sequential decision making behaviors of non-EU maximizers.     

Critical Realism and Causality: Tracing the Aristotelian Legacy

Rom Harré's generative account of causality has been drawn on heavily by advocates of critical realism. Yet Harré argues that critical realists often exaggerate the extent to which powerful causal explanations of social phenomena can be developed. Certain proponents of critical realism have responded to Harré's criticisms by suggesting that it is useful to consider the relevant issues in relation to the familiar Aristotelian classification of four causes. In this paper I contribute to this debate and pursue a similar strategy. The paper adds to existing contributions in two ways. Firstly, I outline how Harré sees his generative account of causality as linking up with Aristotelian themes. It emerges that Harré at times conceives of his generative theory as part of an alternative to the Aristotelian system while at other times he draws connections between it and a reformulated account of formal causality. Secondly, I argue that when we consider the positions of Harré and proponents of critical realism on the scope of causal explanation in the social realm in relation to the interpretation of final causes offered by another philosopher profoundly influenced by the Aristotelian tradition, namely Charles Peirce, we can see both as limited in certain respects.     

Towards a critical realist epistemology?

When critical realists consider epistemology they typically start from “epistemological relativism.” We find this position necessary, but we also find it insufficient because it lacks a critique of the highly unequal social relations among observers themselves—relations that shape the very production of knowledge. While it is indeed the case that all knowledge is fallible, it is also the case that all knowledge is positioned, with a particular standpoint. What is more, the social power relations between standpoints organize the production of truth in ways that produce systematic distortions. In this paper, we propose a critical realist social epistemology. We introduce feminist standpoint theory and postcolonial theory as our suggested interventions into critical realism and we use two case studies of existing work to highlight i) the social production of truth and the real, and ii) what is at stake for radicalizing epistemology in critical realism. In so doing, our paper emphasizes the epistemic complexities that continuously shape ontology, a commitment to subaltern voices or experiences, and a thorough interrogation of the relations between positions of knowledge production.     

Underpinning knowledge for child care practice: reconsidering child development theory

Child development theory has come to be regarded as essential underpinning knowledge for social work practice, a view reinforced by the current research‐minded agenda. Practitioners are enjoined to acquire a more in‐depth knowledge of child development but in this paper it is argued that this agenda requires more scrutiny if social workers are going to engage more meaningfully with the child development literature and use it in a critical and reflexive way in their practice. To this end some key messages drawn from critical approaches to developmental psychology, a literature to date largely unrecognized by social work, are examined for their relevance to practice.     

The AART of Ethnography: A Critical Realist Explanatory Research Model

Critical realism is a philosophy of science, which has made significant contributions to epistemic debates within sociology. And yet, its contributions to ethnographic explanation have yet to be fully elaborated. Drawing on ethnographic data on the health‐seeking behavior of HIV‐infected South Africans, the paper compares and contrasts critical realism with grounded theory, extended case method and the pragmatist method of abduction. In so doing, it argues that critical realism makes a significant contribution to causal explanation in ethnographic research in three ways: 1) by linking structure to agency; 2) by accounting for the contingent, conjunctural nature of causality; and 3) by using surprising empirical findings to generate new theory. The paper develops the AART (abduction, abstraction, retroduction, testing) research schema and illustrates its strengths by employing a Bourdieusian field analysis as a model for morphogenetic explanation.     

Expected utility with ambiguous probabilities and ‘irrational’ parameters

Savage's expected utility theory has been criticized for various reasons. Two of these are: (1) Subjective probabilities may be more or less ambiguous; this may affect the preference order. Savage's theory rules out any such effect. (2) Savage's theory rules out any influence of certain parameters of a probability distribution on the preference order. Such parameters are fractiles or pairs of fractiles, e.g., which have gained widespread attention as risk measures.This paper generalizes expected utility theory to include effects of ambiguity and those parameters on the preference order. Basic to this generalization is the classic paper by Herstein/Milnor.     

Convergent spaces: Intersectional analysis of ethnic minority status and childhood disability in Irish safeguarding work

The core argument of this paper is that intersectionality provides a constructive conceptual lens for the convergence of ethnic minority status and childhood disability in Irish child protection and welfare. The utility of intersectionality in this paper lies in broadening the scope of reflection on the complex intersections of ethnic minority status and childhood disability. Within this, intersectionality is implicitly situated within an overarching critical disability studies perspective. Theoretically informed commentary on the literature attends to three aspects of practice. These are respectively novel intersections of ethnic minority status and childhood disability, as a consequence of intensifying globalization; compounded levels of risk; and the importance of nonconflation of potential sites of oppression, such as race and disability. Overall, the intention of the paper is to be illustrative. Specifically, analysis is presented as an aid to students and practitioners, moving forward, in negotiating a complex and dynamic field of practice.     

Materialism, Agnosticism and God

The longstanding philosophical debate between idealism and materialism has recently entered the ontological terrain of critical realism (CR) and dialectical critical realism (DCR). This has been initiated by Roy Bhaskar’s most recent book, From East to West, which attempts an ambitious synthesis of philosophy, social theory and theology. On the one hand, Bhaskar’s attempt to root his philosophy and social theory in a ‘realist theory of God’ has found an echo within the CR and DCR research camp, some of whose members would urge us to take seriously the possibility of a ‘religious sociology’. On the other hand, Bhaskar’s abrupt ‘idealist turn’ has left many critical realists flabbergasted and horrified, particularly those working at the interface between realist philosophy and Marxist social science, especially since Bhaskar’s new philosophical trajec‐tory is radically at odds with the ‘synchronic emergent powers materialism’ outlined in his The Possibility of Naturalism. In response to this ‘split’ within the CR and DCR camp, the spectre of ‘realist agnosticism’ has been raised and defended by Mervyn Hartwig in this journal. Since neither science nor philosophy can settle the issue of what kind of stuff constitutes ‘rock bottom reality’, it is rational to be agnostic on the ‘ultimate question’, to deny positively affirming the claims of either one side or the other. Now this is the move that is resisted in this paper. My argument is that ontolog‐ical idealism is disputable on a number of grounds‐philosophical, scientific, ethical and political. In particular, I argue that objective idealism is unsupported by rational knowledge, is riddled with conceptual and logical defects, is contrary to the logic of scientific discovery, and is an obstacle to eudaimonia (human emancipation). Further, since realist agnosticism rests its case on the myth of infallible knowledge, and obviously stands or falls with the defensibility or other‐wise of objective idealism, this gives us ‘good enough’ reasons for accepting a thoroughgoing materialism as the ontological foundation of social theory.     

The topic of subjectivity in psychology: Contradictions,paths and new alternatives

This paper draws a picture of how topics related to subjectivity have appeared in different psychological theories, such as psychoanalysis, Gestalt and post‐structuralist approaches, discussing in depth a specific proposition from a cultural‐historical standpoint. I argue that, in most of these theories, subjectivity has been used to refer to specific processes and phenomena without advancing a more general theory about it. The way in which subjectivity was treated within the Cartesian/Enlightenment tradition, taken together with the individualistic tradition of psychology, led critical psychological theories to reject the concept. In this way, such critical theories have omitted the heuristic value of subjectivity to study processes that can neither be exhausted by language, nor by discourse. A new proposal of subjectivity is highlighted, based on the cultural‐historical tradition in psychology. From this perspective, subjectivity is defined by units of emotions and symbolical processes generated throughout human experience. On the basis of such definition, I discuss how institutionalized orders can be subverted by subjective productions that represent new social pathways. Far from being a remnant of Modernity, in this way subjectivity is defined as a human production, capable of transcending the apparent objective limits of human existence.     

Critical understandings of child development: the development of a module for a post-qualifying certificate course in child protection studies

This paper explores the dilemmas involved in selecting appropriate theoretical and research material to help social workers in practice. Concentrating on the needs of those working in child care and protection, the paper uses the example of the area of child development knowledge to illustrate a process of presenting theory for practice. Specifically, the focus is on the redevelopment of a child development module for a post-qualifying certificate course in child care and protection that aims to encourage students to make critical use of current research and theory. The paper explains the reasoning behind the choice of attachment theory as the underpinning theoretical framework. It also addresses possible pitfalls in an uncritical use of such theory. The paper finally sets out how the module addresses the need social workers have for a framework to guide intervention in individual cases. The dimensions described are those of individual vulnerability or resilience and factors in the environment that are adverse or protective.     

Developing creative solutions to the problems of children and their families: communicative reason and the use of forum theatre

The paper represents a further development of work previously reported in this journal by Spratt & Houston (1999) and Spratt et al. (2000) . The authors have sought to develop ways of understanding current social work with children and families in line with the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. This analysis has been complemented by an adoption of the methodology of the radical dramatist, Augusto Boal. In synthesizing Habermas's analysis of communicative discourses with the consciousness raising methodology of Boal, the authors have already demonstrated the effectiveness of this hybrid in problem‐solving exercises with social workers. The present paper reports on an application of this developing theory to practice, utilizing the centrepiece of Boal's method, forum theatre. A forum theatre project, concerned with the issue of bullying, is described and evaluated. It is argued that the project provides an exemplar of an innovative, democratizing and effective methodology that might profitably be utilized in social work with children and families. Finally, suggestions are made as to how these ideas could be developed in practice.     

Are Constructiveness and Destructiveness Essential Features of Guilt and Shame Feelings Respectively?

This paper involves a critical evaluation of a conceptualization of guilt and shame, which guides a number of research mainly in social psychology. In the contemporary literature, conceptualization of guilt and shame shows variation. In one of the leading approaches, guilt is regarded as an experience that targets behavior in evaluative thought and shame as targeting the self. According to this distinction, guilt has a constructive nature and it motivates the individual to take reparative actions, since it targets the behavior, whereas shame has a destructive quality and is linked with problem behaviors, since it targets the self. The claim that guilt and shame are adaptive and maladaptive feelings respectively by their very nature, has been challenged by theory and research. Researchers from non‐Western cultures also criticized compartmentalization of guilt and shame as constructive and destructive emotions by emphasizing cultural variation in the experience of self‐conscious emotions. In this regard, the present paper argues that features of constructiveness and destructiveness do not necessarily follow from the definitions of guilt and shame and that this dichotomous conceptualization of guilt and shame, and the research findings based on this dichotomy need reconsideration.     

Risk aversion,downside risk aversion,and the transition to entrepreneurship

In this paper, we discuss the transition from secure employment to risky self-employment (entrepreneurship) caused by a small increase in wealth. Building on the apportioning risk literature, we prove that the transition from secure employment to risky entrepreneurship is based on a measure of the difference between the strength of downside risk aversion and the strength of risk aversion. This result highlights the idea that using the behavioral approach of risky lotteries to study entrepreneurship can produce different results from the traditional economic theory of entrepreneurship, which can have policy implications that must be considered with caution.

     

Using critical social theory to develop a conceptual framework for comparative social work

This paper sets out a conceptual framework for comparing and contrasting social work within nation-states and across international boundaries. The framework is "situated" theoretically within a (late)modernist understanding of events within advanced capitalism and draws primarily on Habermas' critical social theory. The authors apply this framework to explicate the development of social work in Northern Ireland, a region in which high levels of political conflict mark it out as a site of local, national and international interest. It is suggested that the ideas developed from the case study have relevance for the social professions in other countries, particularly where social conflict is in evidence.     

再论行政发包制：对评论人的回应

本文对周雪光、张静、曹正汉和冯仕政四位教授的评论文章进行了回应。笔者的回应侧重在各位评论人提出的带有批判性质的意见和建议上。笔者和评论人的分歧主要集中在行政发包制的界定、内涵和形成原因、统治风险的内涵和影响、发包人和承包人的权力配置等问题上,对于这些问题,笔者试图做进一步的澄清和解释。鉴于评论人的批评建议,本文也讨论了行政发包制未来可以进一步扩展和完善的领域。最后,笔者提出了一个好的理论的三个标准,并讨论了跨学科交流对于发展好理论的重要意义。     

Non-expected utility risk premiums: The cases of probability ambiguity and outcome uncertainty

This paper discusses two problems. (a) What happens to the conditional risk premium that a decision maker is willing to pay out of the middle prize in a lottery to avoid uncertainty concerning the middle prize outcome, when the probabilities of other prizes change? (b) What happens to the increase that a decision maker is willing to accept in the probability of an unpleasant outcome in order to avoid ambiguity concerning this probability, when this probability increases? We discuss both problems by using anticipated utility theory, and show that the same conditions on this functional predict behavioral patterns that are consistent both with a natural extension of the concept of diminishing risk aversion and with some experimental findings.     

An Empirical Investigation of the Assumptions of Risk-Value Models

Do participants make decisions consistent with risk-value tradeoffs? One hundred and five undergraduate business students made risk and preference judgments about lottery pairs in a series of paper surveys. The data indicate that the participants’ responses were generally consistent with the key assumptions of risk-value models, but that some extensions of the theory would improve this consistency. In particular, we find that modifying the risk assumptions of the risk-value theory so they are consistent the concept of the reflection of the risk attitude in the domains of gains and losses increases the agreement between the theory and the participants’ responses.     

中国农村宗教复兴与“宗教”的中国命运

中国农村宗教复兴是改革开放以来最“出人意料”的现象之一。对此，学界提出了“传统的发明”、“国家-社会关系”、“宗教市场”三种解释模式。本文认为，解释中国农村宗教复兴，不能将宗教现象还原为“政治”或“经济”等其他范畴，而应将之视为一种自成一类的事实，一种人的基本条件，同时应充分理解政治精英和知识精英在中国近现代史上对 “宗教”的塑造过程。中国农村的宗教复兴在很大程度上游离于这一塑造过程之外，因此，可能存在着尚不为学界所充分认识的社会机制，有着提供本土理论的潜力。本文认为，在世俗化理论和市场理论之外，应该尝试使用“礼物模式”探索这一社会机制。