After Postmodernism: An Introduction to Critical Realism

by Jose Lopez (Editor), Garry Potter (Editor)

Overview

What comes after 'postmodernism'? A buzzword which began as an energising, radical critique became, by the 20th Century's end, a byword for fracture, eclecticism, political apathy and intellectual exhaustion.

The last few years have seen a growing interest in critical realism as a possible, alternative way of moving forward. The virtues of critical realism lie in its successful provision of a philosophical grounding for the social sciences and humanities and of a methodology applicable to many different fields of analysis.

After Postmodernism brings together some of the best-known names in the field to present the first truly interdisciplinary introduction to critical realism. The book presents the reader with a compendium of accessible essays illustrating the connection between meta-theory, theory and substantive research across Sociology, Philosophy, Literary Studies, Politics, Media Studies, Psychology and Science Studies.

The flexibility of critical realism is illustrated in the range of topics discussed - ranging from quantum mechanics to cyberspace, to literary theory, nature, smoking, the future fo Marx, the unconscious and, of course, postmodernsim and the future of theory itself.

Contributors: Allison Assiter, Ted Benton, Francis Barker, Roy Bhaskar, Jean Bricmont, Sue Clegg, Andrew Collier, Justin Cruickshank, Robert Fine, David Ford, Tim Forsyth, Rom Harre, Pam Higham, Philip Hodgkiss, Jose Lopez, Christopher Norris, Bertell Ollman, Jenneth Parker, Frank Pearce, Douglas V. Porpora, Garry Potter, John Scott, Philip Tew, Charles R Varela, Anthony Woodiwiss

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826478924
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/18/2005
Series:	Continuum Collection
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Jose Lopez is Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham. Garry Potter is Assistant Professor in Sociology and Anthropology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.

Table of Contents

	General Introduction: After Postmodernism: The Millennium	1
Part I	Varieties of Realism
	Introduction	19
1	How to Change Reality: Story vs. Structure-A Debate between	22
2	The Intersecting Paths of Critical Relations: Multiple Realities, the Inner Planet and Three Dimensional Worlds	40
3	Reading Foucault as a Realist	51
4	The Ethogenics of Agency and Structure: A Metaphysical Problem	63
Part II	'Looking for' and 'Looking at' Social Structure
	Introduction	75
5	Where is Social Structure?	77
6	Metaphors of Social Complexity	86
Part III	Physicists and Philosophers
	Introduction	97
7	Sociology and Epistemology	100
8	Critical Realism and Quantum Mechanics: Some Introductory Bearings	116
Part IV	Theory, Nature and Society
	Introduction	131
9	Why are Sociologists Naturephobes?	133
10	Critical Realism and Political Ecology	146
Part V	Computing Power: De-Gendered Bodies and Gendered Minds?
	Introduction	157
11	Keeping it Real: A Critique of Postmodern Theories of Cyberspace	159
12	Is Computing Really For Women? A Critical Realist Approach to Gender Issues In Computing	169
Part VI	Culture and Criticism
	Introduction	181
13	Truth in Fiction, Science and Criticism	183
14	Reconsidering Literary Interpretation	196
15	Vaporising the Real: Artificiality, Millenial Anxiety and the 'End of History'	206
Part VII	Pragmaticism and Politics; Philosophy and Public Policy
	Introduction	215
16	Rorty on Pragmaticism, Liberalism and the Self	217
17	Realism and Research, Philosophy and Poverty Politics: the Example of Smoking	225
Part VIII	Ways of Knowing
	Introduction	237
18	Descartes' Individualistic Epistemology--A Critique	240
19	Social Movements and Science: The Question of Plural Knowledge Systems	251
20	Do Realists Run Regressions?	260
Part IX	Dialectics
	Introduction	269
21	Marx, Hegel and the Specificity of the Political	272
22	Critical Realism in Light of Marx's Process of Abstraction	285
23	On Real and Nominal Absences	299
	Guide to Further Readings	311
	Bibliography	314
	Contributors	325
	Index	329