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Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame (Fall 2013)
Critical Realism (CR) is, in my
view, the most promising general approach to social science for best
framing our research and theory. CR, as a philosophy of (social) science
(not a sociological theory per se), offers the best alternative to the
problems and limits presented by positivist empiricism, hermeneutical interpretivism, strong social constructionism, and
postmodernist deconstruction. It is the meta-theoretical direction in which
American sociology needs to move.
My own work in CR involves, first,
What is a Person?
Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up
(Chicago 2010) (with Moral, Believing Animals (OUP 2003)
forming a pre-CR theoretical backdrop); and, second, To Flourish or
Destruct: A Personalist Theory of Human Goods,
Motivations, Failure, and Evil (Chicago 2014).
CR is a significant position
within which scholars work in Britain, Scandinavia, and Europe. Yet few
American sociologists are aware of the substance and importance of the CR account.
CR is a genuinely alternative approach to reality and social science that
requires serious, focused study and intellectual re-tooling in order to
learn well enough to not simply fall back into the old assumptions,
instincts, and paradigms. I suggest that those interested in learning CR
read the following (mostly linked) chapters, books, and articles, roughly
in the sequence specified.
1. A First, Quick Overview: Begin by reading these two short, easy works:
Phil Gorski, 2013, “What
is Critical Realism? And Why Should You Care?” Contemporary Sociology, 42: 658ff.
Andrew Sayer, “Introduction”
(pp. 1-28),
2000, Realism and Social Science,
New York:
Sage.
2. A More Systematic Introduction: Next read this good introductory survey:
Andrew Collier, 1994, Critical
Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar's
Philosophy, London: Verso.
3. Some Methodological Implications: Perhaps next read these books, which
spell out some of the broader conceptual and methodological implications of
CR:
Berth
Danermark et al., 2002, Explaining Society:
Critical Realism in the Social Sciences, New York: Routledge.
Andrew Sayer,
1992, Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach, New
York: Routledge.
Douglas Porpora, 2001, "Do Realists Run
Regressions?" In Garry Potter and Jose
Lopez (eds.), After Postmodernism? Critical Realism, London: Continuum.
4. Some Foundational Works: Well worth engaging are two key early works:
Roy Bhaskar,
1975 / 2008, A Realist Theory of Science, London: Routledge.
Rom Harre
and E.H. Madden, 1975, Causal Powers: A Theory of Natural
Necessity,
Oxford: Blackwell.
Roy Bhaskar,
1979 / 1998 (3rd ed.), The
Possibility of Naturalism, London: Routledge.
5. Focus on Causality and Mechanisms: These readings help sharpen thinking
about causation and mechanisms in social science, core issues in CR (about
which more below):
Philip Gorski, 2009, “Social
‘Mechanisms’ and Comparative-Historical Sociology: A Critical Realist
Proposal,” The Frontiers of Sociology, Björn Wittrock and Peter Hedström (eds.), Leiden: Brill.
Ruth Groff (ed.), 2008,
Revitalizing Causality: Realism about Causality in
Philosophy and Social Science, New York: Routledge
(especially the chapter by Doug Porpora,
“Sociology’s
Causal Confusion”)
Douglas Porpora,
2008, “Recovering Causality: Realist Methods in Sociology,”
in A. Maccarini, E. Morandi,
R. Prandini (eds.), Sociological Realism, Genova-Milano:
Marietti.
6. Pursue Specific Interests: Dig deeper into specific areas of possible interest, such as:
(a) Powers-Based-Causes
Alternatives to Humeanism (by analytic
philosophers, not necessarily CR, but who demonstrate the basic CR
viewpoint):
John Greco and Ruth Groff
(eds), 2012, Powers and Capacities
in Philosophy: The New Aristotelianism, Routledge.
Anjan Chakravartty,
2007, A Metaphysics for
Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brian Ellis, 2001, Scientific
Essentialism,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brian Ellis, 2002, The
Philosophy of Nature: A Guide to the New Essentialism, Montreal: McGill-Queen's
University Press.
Stephen Mumford, 2004, Laws
in Nature,
New York: Routledge.
Stephen Mumford, 2003, Dispositions, New York: Oxford
University Press.
Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum, 2011, Getting
Causes from Powers, New York: Oxford University Press.
Anna Marmodoro
(ed.), 2010, The Metaphysics of Powers: Their Grounding and
their Manifestations, New York: Routledge.
George
Molnar, 2003, “Powers: A Study in Metaphysics,” in Stephen Mumford (ed.), Powers
in a Study of Metaphysics, New York: Oxford University Press.
(b) Emergence—the Critical
Realist Account
Philip Clayton and Paul
Davies (eds.), 2006, The Re-Emergence of Emergence, New York: Oxford
University Press (not explicitly CR but similar views).
R. Keith Sawyer, 2002, “Durkheim’s
Dilemma: Toward a Sociology of Emergence,” Sociological Theory, 20(2): 227-247.
(c) Critical Realist
Theory of Social Structure, Culture, and Agency:
Margaret
Archer, 1995, Realist Social Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Douglas Porpora, 1987, The Concept of
Social Structure, New
York: Greenwood Press.
Douglas Porpora,
1989, “Four Concepts of Social Structure,” Journal
for the Theory of Social Behavior, 19(2): 195-211.
Douglas Porpora,
2002, “Social Structure: The Future of a Concept,” in Sing Chew and J. David Knottnerus (eds.), Structure, Culture, and History, Lanham,
MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Douglas Porpora, 1983, "On the Prospects for a
Nomothetic Theory of Social Structure," Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 13: 243-264.
Douglas Porpora, 1993, "Cultural
Rules and Material Relations," Sociological Theory, 11(2): 212-229.
Christian
Smith, 2010, “The Personal
Sources of Social Structures,” chapter 6 in Smith, What is a
Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and
Moral Good from the Person Up. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Colin Wight, 2006, Agents,
Structures, and International Relations: Politics as Ontology, New York: Cambridge.
Margaret Archer, 1982, “Morphogenesis
versus Structuration: On Combining Structure and Action,” British Journal of
Sociology, 33(4): 455-485.
Bob Jessop, 2006, "Critical
Realism and the Strategic-Relational Approach," New Formations, 5:
40-53.
(d) Critical Realism
and Empirical Methodology:
Bob Carter and Caroline
New, 2004, Making Realism Work: Realist Social Theory
and Empirical Research, New York: Routledge.
Ray
Pawson, 1989, A Measure for
Measures: A Manifesto for Empirical Sociology, London:
Routledge.
Sam Porter, 2002, “Critical Realist Ethnography,”
in Tim May (ed.), Qualitative
Research in Action, London:
Sage.
David Byrne, 2011, Applying
Social Science: The Role of Social Research in Politics, Policy, and
Practice.
Bristol: Policy Press.
(e) Critical
Realism and Historical-Comparative Sociology:
George Steinmetz, 1998, “Critical Realism and Historical
Sociology,” Comparative Studies in Society and
History, 40(1) (Jan): 170-186.
George Steinmetz, 2013, “Comparative History and its Critics: A Genealogy of the
Debates and a Possible Resolution.” In Prasenjit Duara, Viren Murthy, and Andrew Sartori
(eds.), A Companion to Global Historical Thought, Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Philip Gorski, 2009, “Social
‘Mechanisms’ and Comparative-Historical Sociology: A Critical Realist
Proposal,” The Frontiers of Sociology,
Björn Wittrock and Peter Hedström (eds.), Leiden:
Brill. (forthcoming).
(f) Critical Realism
and Human Personhood:
Christian Smith, 2010, What
is a Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life,
and Moral Good from the Person Up. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Margaret
Archer, 2000, Being Human: The Problem of Agency, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Douglas Porpora, 1983, "On the Post-Wittgensteinian Critique of the Concept of Action in
Sociology," Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour,13(2):129-146.
Douglas Porpora, 1997, "The Caterpillar’s
Question: Contesting Anti-Humanism’s Contestations," Journal for the Theory of
Social Behaviour, 27(2/3): 243-264.
(g) Critical Realism
and the History and Philosophy of Social Science:
George Steinmetz (ed.),
2005, The
Politics of Method in the Human Sciences: Positivism and its
Epistemological Others, Durham: Duke University Press.
Peter Manicas,
1989, A History
and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Peter Manicas,
2006, A Realist Philosophy of Social Science,
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ted Benton, 1978, Philosophical
Foundations of the Three Sociologies, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Ian Craib
and Ted Benton, 2010, Philosophy of Social Science, New York: Macmillan.
(h) Dialectical
Critical Realism:
Alan
Norrie, 2009, Dialectic and Difference: Dialectical Critical Realism
and the Grounds of Justice, London: Routledge.
Roy
Bhaskar, 2008, Dialectic: The Pulse of
Freedom, London: Routlege [note: this
book is tough sledding]
Roy
Bhaskar, 1994, Plato, Etc.: Problems of Philosophy
and their Resolution, London: Routledge.
Craig
Reeves, 2013, “Freedom, Dialectic and Philosophical Anthropology,” Journal
of Critical Realism, 12(1): 13-44.
(i)
Human Flourishing, Ethical Naturalism, and Critical Realism:
Christian
Smith, 2014, To Flourish or Destruct: A Personalist
Theory of Human Goods, Motivations, Failure, and Evil, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Phil Gorski, 2013, “Beyond the Fact/Value Distinction,”
Society, (Nov/Dec),
50:6: pp.
Andrew Sayer,
2011, Why Things Matter to People: Social Science, Values and
Ethical Life,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Christian Smith, 2010, What
is a Person?, Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, pp. 384-490.
7. Additional Resources: Learning CR
further can benefit from the following resources:
CENTERS & WEBSITES:
Center
for Critical Realism
International
Association for Critical Realism
International
Center for Critical Realism
Cambridge
Realist Workshop
Lancaster
Realist Workshop
London
Realist Seminar
Journal of Critical
Realism
Journal for the Theory of
Social Behaviour
Routledge Studies in Critical
Realism (series)
Mervyn Hartwig,
2007, Dictionary of Critical Realism,
New York: Routledge.
Stephen
Ackroyd and Steve Fleetwood (eds.), 2000, Realist
Perspectives on Management and Organizations, New York: Routledge.
Priscilla
Alderson, 2013, Childhoods Real and Imagined: An Introduction
to Critical Realism and Childhood Studies, New York: Routledge.
Margaret
Archer et al. (eds.), 1998, Critical Realism: Essential
Readings, New York: Routledge.
Margaret
Archer, 1996, Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in
Social Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Margaret
Archer, 2003, Structure, Agency, and the Internal Conversation,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Margaret
Archer and Jonathan Tritter (eds.), 2001, Rational
Choice Theory: Resisting Colonization. New York: Routledge.
Margaret
Archer, Andrew Collier, and Douglas Porpora
(eds.), 2004, Transcendence: Critical Realism and God,
New York: Routledge.
Margaret
Archer (ed.), 2012, The Morphogenetic Society, New York:
Springer.
Roy
Bhaskar et al. (eds.), 1998, Critical
Realism, New York: Routledge.
Bob
Carter, 2001, Realism and Racism,
New York: Routledge.
Andrew
Collier, 2007, In Defense of Objectivity and Other Essays,
New York: Routledge.
Andrew
Collier, 1999, Being and Worth, New York: Routledge.
Sean
Creaven, 2001, Marxism and Realism,
New York: Routledge.
Justin
Cruickshank, 2002, Realism and Sociology:
Anti-Foundationalism, Ontology, and Social Research,
New York: Routledge.
Mats Ekström,
1992, “Causal Explanation of Social Action: The Contribution of Max
Weber and of Critical Realism to a Generative View of Causal Explanation in
Social Science,” Acta
Sociologica, 35: 107-122.
Dave
Elder-Vass, 2011, Causal Power of Social Structures,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dave
Elder-Vass, 2012, The Reality of Social Construction,
New York: Routledge.
Steve
Fleetwood, 2005, Critical Realism in Economics,
New York: Routledge.
Jon
Frauley and Frank Pearce (eds.), 2007, Critical
Realism and the Social Sciences: Heterodox Elaborations,
Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Edward
Fullbrook (ed.), 2008, Ontology and
Economics: Tony Lawson and His Critics, New York: Routldege.
Philip Gorski, 2004, “The Poverty of Deductivism:
A Constructive Realist Model of Sociological Explanation,” Sociological Methodology, 34:1-33.
Ruth
Groff, 2004, Critical Realism, Post-positivism, and the
Possibility of Knowledge, New York: Routledge.
Branwen Gruffyd-Jones,
2006, Explaining Global Poverty: A Critical Realist Approach,
New York: Routledge.
Cynthia
Hamlin, 2002, Beyond Relativism: Raymond Boudon,
Cognitive Rationality, and Critical Realism, New York: Routledge.
David
Harvey, 2002, “Agency and Community: A Critical Realist Perspective,”
Journal
for the Theory of Social Behavior, 32(2): 163-194.
Jonathan
Joseph and Colin Wight, 2006, Scientific Realism and
International Relations. New York: Cambridge.
Stephen
Kemp and John Holmwood, 2003, “Realism,
Regularity, and Social Explanation,” Journal
for the Theory of Social Behavior, 33(2): 165-187.
Tony
Lawson, 2003, Reorienting Economics,
New York: Routledge.
Dustin
McWherter, 2013, The Problem of
Critical Ontology: Bhaskar contra Kant,
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
William
Outhwaite, 1987, New Philosophies of
Social Science: Realism, Hermeneutics, and Critical Theory, New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Heikki Patomaki,
2001, After International Relations: Critical Realism and the
(Re)Construction of World Politics,
New York: Routledge.
Jose
Lopez and Garry Potter, 2005, After Postmodernism: An
Introduction to Critical Realism, Continuum International.
Keith
Sawyer, 2005, Social Emergence: Societies as Complex Systems,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Andrew
Sayer, 2000, Realism and Social
Science, New York: Sage Publications.
Frédéric Vandenberghe,
2013, What's
Critical About Critical Realism? Essays in Reconstructive Social Theory,
New York: Routledge.
And much more on
specific topics besides….
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