Critical realism emerged from the philosophical writings of Roy Bhaskar, and has evolved into a philosophy of social science research using the model of “dialectical critical realism” (DCR) which begins with the researcher’s assumptions that the structures being researched have a real, ontological grounding which is independent of the researcher. This approach has proved fruitful in British and European social science research, but has had less influence in North America. We outline DCR’s four-level model for understanding society and its changing social structures through “the pulse of freedom”. DCR has been used by Marxists, Muslims, Catholics and secular scholars who engage fruitfully in morphogenic dialogues leading to a critical realist understanding of society and social research, which transcends positivist and social constructionist models. Examples of DCR’s application in the fields of childhood research, child abuse, education, and research on organisations are outlined to illustrate the working of this new research paradigm. We are enthusiastic in our advocacy of DCR as a model of qualitative research, and for constructing models of positive social change, and are particularly impressed by the substantive and theoretical expositions of DCR by Priscilla Anderson, Matthew Wilkinson and Margaret Archer, whose work we document and review.
Abubaker, M., & Bagley, C. (2016a). Work-Life Balance Policies in Jordanian Telecommunication Companies. Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, 4, 13-18. https://doi.org/10.15604/ejbm.2016.04.03.002
Abubaker, M., & Bagley, C. (2016b). Work-Life Balance and the Needs of Female Employees in the Telecommunications Industry in a Developing Country: A Critical Realist Approach to Issues in Industrial and Organisational Social Psychology. Comprehensive Psychology, 5, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165222816648075
Ahmed, S. (2004). The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Akram, S., & Hogan, A. (2015). On Reflexivity and Conduct of the Self in Everyday Life: Reflections on Bourdieu and Archer. British Journal of Sociology, 66, 606-625. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12150
Alderson, P. (2013). Childhoods Real and Imagined: An Introduction to Critical Realism and Childhood Studies. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Alderson, P. (2016). The Politics of Childhoods Real and Imagined: Practical Application of Critical Realism and Childhood Studies. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Archer, M. A. (1995). Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511557675
Archer, M. A. (2000). Being Human: The Problematic Agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488733
Archer, M. A. (2003). Structure, Agency and the Internal Conversation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139087315
Archer, M. A. (2007). Making Our Way through the World: Human Reflexivity and Social Mobility. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618932
Archer, M. A. (2010). Conversations about Reflexivity. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Archer, M. A. (2012). The Reflexive Imperative in Late Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139108058
Archer, M. A. (Ed.) (2014). Late Modernity: Trajectories towards Morphogenetic Society. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03266-5
Bagley, C. (2008). The Educational and Social Inclusion of Disadvantaged Children in Britain. In C. Bagley, & G. Verma (Eds.), Challenges for Inclusion (pp. 103-148). Rotterdam: Sense Publications.
Bagley, C., & King, K. (2003). Child Sexual Abuse: The Search for Healing. New York: Routledge.
Bagley, C., & Sawyerr, A. (2017). Child Sexual Abuse and Adolescent and Adult Adjustment: A Review of British and World Evidence, with Implications for Social Work, Mental Health and School Counselling. Advances in Applied Sociology.
Banfield, G. (2016). Critical Realism for Marxist Sociology of Education. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Bhaskar, R. A. (1986). Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation. London: Verso.
Bhaskar, R. A. (2000). From East to West: Odyssey of a Soul. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Bhaskar, R. A. (2008). Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom (1st & 2nd ed.). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Bhaskar, R. A. (2012). From Science to Emancipation: Alienation and Enlightenment. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Bhaskar, R. A., & Danermark, B. (2006). Metatheory, Interdisciplinary and Disability Research: A Critical Realist Approach. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 8, 278-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/15017410600914329
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Social Space and Symbolic Power. Sociological Theory, 7, 14-25. https://doi.org/10.2307/202060
Carlile, A. (2013). Permanent Exclusion from School and Institutions Prejudice. Rotterdam: Sense Publications. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-182-5
Carter, C. (2000). Realism and Racism: Concepts of Race in Sociological Research. London: Routledge.
Coard, B. (1971/2005). How the West Indian Child Is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System: The Scandal of the Black Child in Schools in Britain. In B. Richardson (Ed.), Tell It Like It Is: How Our Schools Fail Black Children (pp. 27-59). Stoke: Trentham Books. (First Published in 1971 by New Beacon Books)
Collier, A. (1994). Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy. London: Verso.
Collier, A. (1998). Explanation and Emancipation. In M. Archer, R. Bhaskar, A. Collier, T. Lawson, & A. Norrie (Eds.), Critical Reality: Essential Readings (pp. 444-463). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Collier, A. (1999). Being and Worth. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Collier, A. (2002). Dialectic in Marxism and Critical Realism. In A. Brown, S. Fleetwood, & J. M. Roberts (Eds.), Critical Realism and Marxism (pp. 168-186). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Creaven, S. (2007). Emergentist Marxism: Dialectical Philosophy and Social Theory. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Creaven, S. (2015). The “Two Marxisms” Revisited: Humanism, Structuralism and Realism in Marxist Social Theory. Journal of Critical Realism, 14, 7-53. https://doi.org/10.1179/1572513814Y.0000000008
Easton, G. (2010). Critical Realism in Case Study Research. Industrial Marketing and Management, 39, 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.06.004
Edwards, P., O’Mahoney, J., & Vincent, S. (Eds.) (2014). Studying Organization Using Critical Realism. London: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665525.001.0001
Engels, F. (1845/1978). The Condition of the Working Class in England. London: Penguin Books.
Flaschel, P. (2009). The Macrodynamics of Capitalism: Elements for a Synthesis of Marx, Keynes and Schumpeter. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Gorski, P. (2013). What Is Critical Realism? And Why Should You Care? Contemporary Sociology, 42, 658-670. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094306113499533
James, W. (1890). Selections from the Principles of Psychology. In H. Thayer (Ed.), Pragmatism: The Classic Writings (pp. 135-179). New York: New American Library.
Little, D. (2012). Varieties of Social Explanation: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Science. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Lovelock, J. (1979). Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. London: Oxford University Press.
Marx, K. (2013). Capital Volumes I and II. London: Wordsworth Classics.
Mead, G. (1964). Mind, Self and Society. In A. Strauss (Ed.), George Herbert Mead: On Social Psychology (pp. 115-284). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Norrie, A. (2010). Dialectic and Difference: Dialectical Critical Realism and the Grounds of Justice. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Popper, K. (2002). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Routledge Classics
Sarra, C. (2011). Strong and Smart—Towards a Pedagogy of Emancipation: Education for the First People. London: Routledge.
Savage, M. (2015). Social Class in the Twenty First Century. London: Pelican.
Scambler, G. (2012). Resistance in Unjust Times: Archer, Structured Agency and the Sociology of Health Inequalities. Sociology, 33, 275-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/S0038038599000176
Schatzman, M. (1973). Soul Murder: Persecution in the Family. London: Allen Lane.
Shipway, B. (2013). A Critical Realist Perspective of Education. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Stahl, G. (2015). Identity, Neoliberalism and Aspiration: Educating White Working Class Boys. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Wilkinson, M. (2013). Introducing Islamic Critical Realism: A Philosophy Underlabouring Contemporary Islam. Journal of Critical Realism, 12, 419-442. https://doi.org/10.1179/1476743013Z.00000000014
Wilkinson, M. (2015). A Fresh Look at Islam in a Multi-Faith World: A Philosophy for Success Through Education. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Willis, P. (1979). Learning to Labour: How Working Class Lads Get Working Class Jobs. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Zacharialis, M., Scott, S., & Barrett, M. (2010). Exploring Critical Realism as the Theoretical Foundation of Mixed-Method Research: Evidence from the Economics of Information Science Innovations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Judge Business School.