Routledge Studies in Critical Realism
About the Book Series
Critical Realism is a broad movement within philosophy and social science. It is a movement that began in British philosophy and sociology following the founding work of Roy Bhaskar, Margaret Archer and others. Critical Realism emerged from the desire to realise an adequate realist philosophy of science, social science, and of critique. Against empiricism, positivism and various idealisms (interpretivism, radical social constructionism), Critical Realism argues for the necessity of ontology. The pursuit of ontology is the attempt to understand and say something about ‘the things themselves’ and not simply about our beliefs, experiences, or our current knowledge and understanding of those things. Critical Realism also argues against the implicit ontology of the empiricists and idealists of events and regularities, reducing reality to thought, language, belief, custom, or experience. Instead Critical Realism advocates a structural realist and causal powers approach to natural and social ontology, with a focus upon social relations and process of social transformation.
Important movements within Critical Realism include the morphogenetic approach developed by Margaret Archer; Critical Realist economics developed by Tony Lawson; as well as dialectical Critical Realism (embracing being, becoming and absence) and the philosophy of metaReality (emphasising priority of the non-dual) developed by Roy Bhaskar.
For over thirty years, Routledge has been closely associated with Critical Realism and, in particular, the work of Roy Bhaskar, publishing well over fifty works in, or informed by, Critical Realism (in series including Critical Realism: Interventions; Ontological Explorations; New Studies in Critical Realism and Education). These have all now been brought together under one series dedicated to Critical Realism.
The Centre for Critical Realism is the advisory editorial board for the series. If you would like to know more about the Centre for Critical Realism, or to submit a book proposal, please visit www.centreforcriticalrealism.com.
Marxism and Realism: A Materialistic Application of Realism in the Social Sciences
1st Edition
By Sean Creaven
March 31, 2007
This book rethinks Marx's sociology as a form of realist social theory, extending Roy Bhaskar's philosophical realism into the social sciences. By constructing historical materialism as realist social theory, it becomes possible to resolve many long standing dilemmas in Marxist discourse, such as ...
Hegemony: A Realist Analysis
1st Edition
By Jonathan Joseph
March 18, 2007
Hegemony: A Realist Analysis is a new and original approach to this important concept. It presents a theoretical history of the use of hegemony in a range of work starting with a discussion of Gramsci and Russian Marxism and going on to look at more recent applications. It examines the current ...
Critical Realism: The Difference it Makes
1st Edition
Edited
By Justin Cruickshank
January 24, 2007
This book introduces social scientists to the difference that critical realism can make to theorising and methodological problems within the contemporary social sciences. The chapters, which cover such topics as cultural studies, feminism, globalization, heterodox economics, education policy, the ...
In Defence of Objectivity
1st Edition
By Andrew Collier
January 24, 2007
This volume addresses the interlocking themes of realism, objectivity, existentialism and (eco-socialist) politics, based on critical realism. However, it moves beyond the purely scientific orientation of earlier contributions to this philosophy, to further develop the themes.The title essay ...
Realism and Sociology: Anti-Foundationalism, Ontology and Social Research
1st Edition
By Justin Cruickshank
January 24, 2007
In recent years, methodological debates in the social sciences have increasingly focused on issues relating to epistemology. Realism and Sociology makes an original contribution to the debate, charting a middle ground between postmodernism and positivism.Critics often hold that realism tries to ...
Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism
1st Edition
By Christopher Norris
November 07, 2003
In this book Christopher Norris develops the case for scientific realism by tackling various adversary arguments from a range of anti-realist positions. Through a close critical reading he shows how they fail to make adequate sense on any rational, consistent, and scientifically-informed survey of ...
Engendering the State: The International Diffusion of Women's Human Rights
1st Edition
By Lynn Savery
November 11, 2000
Why have states in general been slower to incorporate the international diffusion of women’s human rights norms domestically than other human rights norms and why has the diffusion of these norms varied so greatly between states? Why are some states more responsive and exert more effort than ...