Critical Realism

Can general mechanisms governing social life (necessity) and the possibility of multiple outcomes in socio-historical processes (contingency) be incorporated into a single theoretical framework? In recent years, the critical realist philosophy of science has emerged as an intellectual strand within international relations (IR) that makes theoretical claims about necessary social processes while recognizing the irreducible role of contingency. However, critical realist scholars treat contingency as an ‘externality’, thereby declining to theorize social processes that result in contingent outcomes. Here, it is argued that contingency emerges out of the combination of events and processes as theorized by the law of uneven and combined development. This provides a general conceptualization that treats differentiated historical outcomes, and their contingencies, as inherent to human development. Out of these assumptions a workable approach to historical sociology in IR can be developed—one predicated upon uncovering the form of historical ‘combination’, the contingent fusion of elements, in international systems.

El presente trabajo tratará de desgranar la cuestión metodológica en las nuevas teorías de Relaciones Internacionales, poniendo especial énfasis en la teoría de la complejidad, el realismo crítico y las teorías 'posmodernas'. Por metodología hacemos referencia a aquellas herramientas que se utilizan con el fin de obtener conocimiento, las cuales, obviamente, dependerán de la visión que se tenga del mundo y de la política. Se empezará con una breve explicación del contexto de la metodología en la disciplina que consistirá en una introducción sucinta del segundo de los tal vez 'mal llamados' grandes debates en Relaciones Internacionales. Una vez hecho esto, se pasará a explicar qué posición particular adopta cada una esas recientes teorías, para terminar planteando unas consideraciones finales. La conclusión de este trabajo es clara: la metodología es una elección de extrema importancia a la hora de investigar en Relaciones Internacionales y que nace no solamente de las visiones del mundo, sino también de las visiones de lo que es hacer ciencia.

Nosso objetivo aqui é demonstrar como o conceito hegeliano de absoluto visa romper com um diagnóstico de época, que concerne tanto a história assim como um determinado estado da filosofia alemã. Para isso, iniciamos com uma breve introdução ao diagnóstico hegeliano, que diz respeito à filosofia, e, uma vez colocado o que Hegel considera o maior desafio para o pensamento em seu tempo, podemos acompanhar como o conceito de absoluto realiza a ruptura com a cisão entre mundo empírico e a razão provocada pela filosofia kantiana.

This article presents the case that while Foucault’s ideas have been the subject of much debate, the distinctive transformative potentials of his immanent thought have tended to have been overlooked in the field to date. In making this case, critical realism provides an important counter-example, as a transcendental orientation to critical practice with significant influence in contemporary organization studies. In drawing out the difference between these contrasting orientations to critique, Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analytic (CDA) framework is evaluated here as an approach to organization studies that took early inspiration from Foucault’s work, while having looked towards critical realist ideas in recent years. Fairclough’s writings on discourse and university ‘marketization’ provide a useful empirical focus to explore the distinctive styles of problem-posing that follow from these different critical orientations; contrasting the distanced normativity of critical realist-informed transcendentalism with the situated, transformative potentials of Foucault’s immanent thought. Through these investigations, the article offers a reappraisal of existing lines of debate on Foucault and critical realism in organization studies, and of the value of Foucault’s ideas to the field more broadly.

Many studies of the labour market spatial mismatch rely on the deductive-nomological model of causation to test the theory that low-skilled, inner-city residents have been isolated from the knowledge of job opportunities by the suburbanisation of jobs. The logic of this approach follows the deductive-nomological model of explanation which establishes causation by measuring the constant conjunctions between ‘causes’ and ‘effects’. As an alternative, I have used a realist approach to the study of the labour market spatial mismatch that uses a ‘causal/explanatory’ method. This approach entails the qualitative description of the causal mechanism in order to discover and conceptualise its causal properties. The results suggest that the spatial mismatch theory could be refined in order to accommodate the finding that workers in excluded ghettos do not necessarily rely solely on local social networks to find out about job vacancies. Instead, workers with employment experience have strong workplace-based social networks. Since employers recruit workers by relying on referrals from trusted workers, these workplace-based social networks can put job seekers at the front of the hiring queue, regardless of where they live.

This paper explores the relationship between humanistic and social science theories and related epistemologies. Bikjer and Pinch's "Social Construction of Technology" provides a theoretical basis for interpreting  the emergence, growth, and diversity of digital archives. In addition, Foucault's notion of discursive communities provides another theoretical basis for explaining the formation and  use of digital archives. Bhaskar's epistemology, critical realism underpins both SCOT and discursive communities.

(2013a). L’«esplicabile peccato originale dell’intera esperienza»: Critica e metafisica della conoscenza in J. F. Herbart [The “explicable original sin of all experience”: Critique and metaphysics of knowledge by J. F. Herbart]. Rivista di storia della filosofia , 68(4), 673–697. DOI 10.3280/SF2013-004002. IDS 275YC/WOS 000328714300002.

The “explicable original sin of all experience”. Critique and metaphysics of
knowledge by J.F. Herbart. The Author claims that, in the system of Johann Friedrich
Herbart (1776-1841), multiple foundation relationships between psychology and metaphysics
interweave as a result of the intermediate position assigned to the human
being within the methodological framework. To highlight the quest for objectivity in
his general and applied metaphysics, its overall structures are analysed on several levels:
the problematic assumption of external and internal data; formality of knowledge;
essences and events in realistic ontology; and the connection between events and
objective appearance, which is further specified in scientific psychology. The condition
of individual observers amidst manifold essences proves to be decisive in linking ontology
and experience. Yet Herbart’s metaphysics is intended to rearrange and develop
Kant’s critical philosophy: it is argued that the establishment of scientific psychology
is aimed at legitimating objectivity and that Herbart’s metaphysical foundation of
knowledge also relies on the definition of the subject as a blank position.

(2008a). Ars experientiam recte intelligendi: Zu J. F. Herbarts Begründung der Metaphysik [Herbart’s Foundation of Metaphysics]. In M. Gerhard (Hrsg.), Oldenburger Jahrbuch für Philosophie 2008 (pp. 23–48). Oldenburg: BIS. ISBN 978-3-8142-2136-6.

Herbarts Allgemeine Metaphysik erscheint 1828-29 als Ergebnis langjähriger Reflexionen und vervollständigt Herbarts konstruktive Kritik des kantschen Werkes, die er bereits in seiner Psychologie als Wissenschaft (1824-25) vorgelegt hat. Herbarts Metaphysik findet zu seinen Lebzeiten kaum Beachtung – woran sich bis heute im deutschsprachigen Raum nichts geändert hat. Aus diesem Grund werden die theo-retischen Grundlagen von Herbarts Metaphysik auf Basis neuerer internationaler In-terpretationen erörtert. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass Herbarts methodologischer Ansatz und seine relationale Ontologie zur Begründung einer realistischen Metaphysik beitragen. Herbart ersetzt das Inhärenzverhältnis durch eine funktionale Auflösung des Gegenstandes, dadurch rückt sein Werk schließlich in die Nähe zeitgenössischer Diskussionen. Dieser Punkt wird anhand von Paolo Valores Vergleich mit Quines Ontologie gezeigt.

Drawing on contemporary debates in organization theory, the book explores the monsters that populate organizations, what organizations do to these monsters, and how this challenges us to re-construct organization theory. I first interrogate how organizations and organization theory seek to kill monsters and how organizations exploit the monstrous for commercial purposes – from the alien monsters of the sci-fi entertainment industry to the monstrous branding of energy drinks and the organic-synthetic chimeras produced by biotech and agribusiness companies. I then argue for more diverse, more joyful and more responsible organizations through a positively monstrous theory, politics and ethics of organizational life. By addressing the role of monsters in organizational life, the book proposes a theory and ontology of organizations beyond poststructuralist constructionism and critical realism. I hope the book will be of interest to scholars, doctoral students and master's students in management and organization studies, cultural studies, gender studies, sociology and beyond.

Contents: Preface 1. Introduction: The Monstrous Organization 2. Killing Monsters 3. Exploiting Monsters 4. Monstrous Bodies, Nature and Life 5. Monstructing Organizations and Organization Theory 6. Monstrous Politics and Ethics in Organizations 7. Epilogue: A Monstrous Future? References Index

The book has received some praise from readers and reviewers:

‘This book marks a major shift in the way we think and feel about organizations. Radically reconsidering what we see as        organizationally normal and abnormal, Thanem shatters the borders of convention to enable the becoming of a new and monstrously radical politics of difference. With reflexivity, sensitivity and courage, this politically and theoretically charged work offers an affirmative alternative to habituated organizational violence and oppression. It does so in the form of a monstrous ethics of organizations. Essential reading for those interested in the best of the latest advances in organization studies.’
– Carl Rhodes, Swansea University, UK

‘A beautifully expressed, wonderfully crafted object, transcending the idea of “organization theory book”; this is a playfully serious and provocatively modest encounter with the monstrous we inhabit and the monsters we create with our work and everyday life. It made me laugh with embarrassment and cry with joy by prying open much that we, organizational scholars, often try to hide. Finally, our monstrosity was free to roam in the light of what we claim as knowledge! It felt very liberating.’
– Marta B. Calás, University of Massachusetts, US

‘This path-breaking book offers fascinating insights into how the monstrous can form an extremely powerful term for conceptualising alternative ways of living, working and organizing. Above all, Torkild Thanem has made a quite brilliant contribution to our understanding of the role of ontology in interpreting organizational life. Required reading for students of organization.’
– John Hassard, The University of Manchester, UK

The book has been reviewed in the following journals:
European Legacy (2014) vol. 19, no. 2. DOI: 10.1080/10848770.2014.876239
Organization (2012)  vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 660-663. doi: 10.1177/1350508411435802
Organization Studies (2012) vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 593-596. http://oss.sagepub.com/content/33/4/593
Scandinavian Journal of Management (2013), vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 119–120. DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2012.06.004

Celem książki Adama Mrozowickiego jest pokazanie robotników jako aktywnych aktorów zarówno w czasie transformacji ustrojowej po 1989 roku, jak i zachodzących w jej konsekwencji przemian społecznych. Mrozowickiemu nie odpowiadają narracje dominujące w socjologicznym myśleniu o klasie robotniczej po socjalizmie. Krytycznie odnosi się do teoretyków konwergencji (takich jak Piotr Sztompka czy Henryk Domański), widzących w mentalności i samej egzystencji robotników przeszkodę na drodze do mitycznego „zjednoczenia z Zachodem”. Zachowuje również dystans wobec protekcjonalnego podejścia traktującego robotników jako „wielkich przegranych” transformacji ustrojowej (Leszek Gilejko, Kazimierz Słomczyński) oraz tezy, że dali się oni zmanipulować przez elity (David Ost). W centrum uwagi stawia same jednostki, nie związki zawodowe (w przeciwieństwie do Juliusza Gardawskiego). Znacznie bliżej mu do nurtu „new labor studies”, w którym kładzie się nacisk na sprawczość pracowników, ich refleksyjność oraz na złożone związki między codzienną praktyką jednostek a reprodukcją i zmianą systemów społeczno-gospodarczych.

Although the hype of interest in constructivism in international relations (IR) withered with the end of the previous millennium, (frequently implicitly) constructivism remains one of the most popular approaches stimulating research-agendas in IR. By revisiting the basic features of constructivism, the objective of this chapter is to point to metatheoretical weaknesses inherent in constructivist approaches and to suggest a way of bypassing them. It is argued that the identified here as ontological indeterminacy and epistemological generosity embedded in the foundations of constructivism limit its research-potential. As the chapter suggests, one of the ways of navigating the so-defined metatheoretical traps inherent in constructivism consists in engaging constructivism in dialogue with critical realism and Archerian morphogenesis.