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Marketers need to understand consumers in both theory and practice to create offerings that are valuable to them. Hence, the marketing discipline has conceptualized consumers' subjectively perceived value in various ways, using multiple paradigms. Nevertheless, its constituents remain unclear. We argue that this is because the ontological and epistemological premises are both vague and narrow. Consequently, consumers' value perceptions are still difficult to study or manage. With the aim of making a conceptual leap, our paper is the first to apply a critical realist (CR) approach to the phenomenon. CR's stratified ontology and subjectivist/pluralist epistemology reconcile the positivist and interpretivist/constructionist paradigms, allowing the simultaneous existence of external socio-natural and internal subjective realities. Using these premises, we examine, from a marketer's perspective, how consumers perceive value, which is a subjective, phenomenological, and socially constructed act embedded in the natural world. Our CR theorizing deploys Bhaskar's (2010) RRREIC schema and includes a review of the extant subjective value conceptualizations (consumer perceived value, value-in-use, value-in-experience) and retroduction of the key mechanisms generating the phenomenon: meaning-making and sensory perception. Finally, we propose a novel conceptualization for Emergent Consumer Perceived Value formation (ECPV) as an open system. As its integral component, we introduce the concept of Sensory Value Affordance, explaining how consumers transform physical properties into subjective meanings. These conceptual tools cater especially to B2C managers and account for both the phenomenological and sociocultural as well as the corporeal and perceptual. Finally, we present broader implications for value research, the field of marketing, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Kálmán Mikszáth (1847–1910) was introduced to China in the early twentieth century and the translation of his work had run through the Chinese history of the last century. In order to gain a thorough understanding of Mikszáth in China, this study adopts the socio-cultural context of twentieth-century China as the entry point to probe into the translation of his work and examine his reception in China. Like the translation of Jókai's work in China, that of his work was first influenced by the nationalist discourse of "the literature of marginalized nationalities" and then became part of the cultural exchanges between socialist countries. It finds that although Mikszáth attracted less attention in early twentieth-century China due to the lack of revolutionary subjects in his writing, the artistic values of his works had already been appreciated. Later, benefiting from the social-critical themes and anecdotal/legendary elements found everywhere in his works, Mikszáth had been vigorously promoted and widely circulated in China in the second half of the century. As a result, a great realistic writer who made the flexible use of romanticism to criticize the Hungarian society had been imprinted into the Chinese readers' minds in the twentieth century. This way of interpretation has extended its influence to the twenty-first-century China, which hinders the modernist traits of Mikszáth's writing from being captured by the Chinese readers in the new millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to extend the explanatory power of Martin Thrupp's legacy within the framework of critical realism. Specifically, it argues that critical realism's methodological complement, the morphogenetic approach, provides a metatheoretical toolkit that can deepen and expand Thrupp's realist analysis of school contexts. The article elaborates on how the morphogenetic approach offers a stratified, temporally phased view of causality that integrates structure, agency, and culture (SAC). By foregrounding SAC, it argues for a layered and nuanced understanding of context in education policy analysis, refining Thrupp's conceptualisation of the constraints and opportunities available to school leaders. The article also delineates how the morphogenetic approach offers greater analytical precision in examining how emergent socio-cultural configurations condition agency and change within global educational systems, particularly through its positing of 'situational logics' that predispose agents towards specific courses of action. The final section outlines the potential of the morphogenetic approach for theorising the impact of globalised neoliberalism and managerialism on education, ultimately complementing and sharpening Thrupp's realist contextualism. The article concludes that Thrupp's contextual approach can be 'rebranded' through the morphogenetic framework, enhancing his realist analysis with a stratified understanding of how global neoliberal forces shape local educational contexts while offering strategies to resist managerialism and promote social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers whether the unresolved contention about sex and gender is unique or whether it reflects, albeit in an amplified form, a deeper problematic about all forms of identity politics. Topics discussed include empirical character of the sex/gender contention, utility of the meta-theoretical resource of critical realism, and implications of the comparison of the particular and the general in relation to identity politics.

This paper examines trends, challenges and opportunities in terms of research methodologies in qualitative IB research. In particular, it examines trends for the dominant (positivism/(post)positivism) paradigm versus alternative paradigms (i.e., social constructivism, critical realism and interpretivism) and provides a comparative analysis of data collection and methods. Using mixed methods to collect and analyze data on qualitative articles published in International Business Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and Management International Review, we examine trends and differences between the dominant and alternative paradigms and use qualitative content analysis to investigate how alternative paradigm papers are conceptualized and presented. Moreover, we interview authors of non-positivist papers to gain in-depth understanding of the findings. We reveal differences across the paradigms and provide evidence of paradigmatic fit between methods and data collection techniques for the dominant paradigm, but more variation for alternative paradigms. Lastly, we provide prescriptions for IB scholars in terms of methodology diversity and how complex IB phenomena can be pursued vis-a-vis alternative paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The victory of realism over idealism at the start of the twentieth century, and of scientific realism over logical empiricism and pragmatism in the mid twentieth century, is a striking phenomenon that calls for historical explanation. In this paper I propose an externalist account, looking at the social and political reasons why realism became attractive, rather than considering the internal factors–the merits of the arguments in favour of realism. I look at the agenda of Roy Wood Sellars' critical realism which was not narrowly theoretical, but very much related to his concerns for the development of American society post WW1, as expressed in The Next Step in Democracy (1916b) and The Next Step in Religion (1918). I discuss the significance of technocracy in America – not only the increasing influence of scientists and engineers in government, but also the diffusion of the view that social issues are best addressed by scientific, technical means. Counter-cultural critics of technocracy, such as Roszak (1969) claimed that a "scientific world-view" provided an "ideology" for this system of governance. We will see that RW Sellars was explicitly involved in the task of building a scientific world-view, but with political goals that were probably not realised by the post-war establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overall contention of this paper, conducted through an examination of the idea of a 'critical direct realism' as this was developed across the twentieth century first in the thought of Roy Wood Sellars (1880–1973) and then in a different form by his son Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989), is that such a view, in both its conceptual and sensory representational dimensions, is plausible as a form of direct realism. However, to the extent that the mediating sensory or qualitative dimension was itself conceived by both thinkers in what I characterize as strongly 'phenomenal realist' terms, the resulting philosophical commitments were of a kind that most current direct realists would generally not accept, even in cases where they themselves are phenomenal realists (perhaps naïve realists). The various perceiver-dependent forms of that additional, perhaps detachable commitment of most critical realists is likely responsible for the assessment of William Pepperell Montague (1873–1953) and other 'neo-realists' that 'critical realism' is not really, as advertised by Roy Wood Sellars, a version of direct realism, but ultimately a retreat to indirect realism. However, I argue that in both of its primary conceptual and sensory representational commitments, 'critical direct realism' remains a plausible competitor to direct acquaintance versions of direct realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some consequences of direct realism and William James's philosophy of mind are considered in terms of American naturalism as seen in the debate between John Dewey and Roy Wood Sellars. Sellars's critical realism and evolutionary naturalism is compared and contrasted with Dewey's pragmatic realism and emphatically evolutionary naturalism. Though these naturalisms are similar, there are significant differences between methodology, their critiques of James's reflex arc concept in his Principles of Psychology, and the mind-body problem. Sellars's critical realism and naturalism retains a priori commitments to fixed categories and concepts, whereas Dewey's emphatically evolutionary pragmatic naturalism is empirical and sees continuities where Sellars insists on discontinuities. One significant difference is Sellars's maintaining a place for introspection as methodologically appropriate and Dewey's' rejection of it. These differences are illustrated through Sellars's modification of the reflex arc to include an organic but interpretative step, and Dewey's radical criticism of approaches like James's and Sellars's as recapitulating the Cartesian dualism that such views intended to overcome. These differences are finally contrasted in Sellars's maintaining a privacy of mind by constraining it to the brain in a dual-aspect theory, while Dewey advocates mind as sociocultural, expanding mind into body and world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American philosophical realism developed in two forms: "new" and "critical" realism. While the new realists sought to 'emancipate' ontology from epistemology and defended a direct theory of perception, the critical realists promoted a representationalist account of perception and thus argued for an epistemological dualism. Bertrand Russell's early philosophical writings figured prominently in both of these American realist camps. However, while the new realists quite enthusiastically embraced the Russellian analytic style of reasoning (and Russell himself appreciated the American new realists as anti-idealist allies), the critical realists were significantly more reserved toward Russell's point of view. In the present paper, I identify the reasons for this difference in reception. In particular, I will show that the critical realists' reservations pertained primarily to a more traditionalist—'continental'—account of philosophy, whereas the neo-realists proved instrumental in setting the stage for later full-blown analytic philosophy in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PhD by publication, a route of attaining a 'doctorate', is growing in adoption, yet has not gained universal acceptance. Whilst doctoral students are expected to free range, be independent in their study, and contribute to knowledge, there is a tendency to be schooled or mainly assessed along the lines of positivism and interpretivism. This paper, in part the author's situational reflexivity and noting Liezel Frick's "PhD by publication – panacea or paralysis?", carried out a documentary analysis of academic regulations of 101 universities in the UK, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, and examined the literature for demi-regularities supporting or inhibiting critical realism in doctoral studies. It followed a (multimethod) plural approach. The examination revealed that critical realism is sparse in doctoral studies, and universities do not cohere in nomenclature and 'form' of PhD by publication. In filling the 'free range' gap, this paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on PhD by publication by introducing the IDADA ('identify', 'define', 'analyse', 'develop' and 'apply') methodological framework. The framework evolved from the demi-regularities understudied. IDADA is a practical solution-centric, methodological approach to PhD by publication. The paper calls on researchers and practitioners to be open to structured and 'alternate' approaches to research whilst ensuring ontological, epistemological, and axiomatic rigour. Researchers need not approach research religiously — as that of a particular paradigm sect; but rather embrace 'practical adequacy'. Doctoral students should be encouraged to produce research output with more significant impact through interrogation and unearthing phenomena rather than just "observing, outlining and discussing findings" or conforming to 'writing style'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: This paper engages with the question of how one can arrive at more coherent explanations of social behavior in coupled socio-ecological systems. Objectives: The paper aims to give a counterargument to the assumption that social theory in coupled socio-ecological systems can only be developed in one way, as such showing that the premise of the special issue deserves further scrutiny. Methods: Current issues are identified and categorized based on a literature survey; likewise, the solutions derive from methodological literature, in particular from the realm of critical realism. Results: The paper shows how a set of assumptions about the nature of socio-ecological systems and about the nature of theory derived from observations prohibit a deeper understanding of how social theory may be developed at the nexus of coupled socio-ecological systems. Researchers should engage more clearly with movements between theories, models and data, and movements between ontology, epistemology and data. Conclusions: Landscape ecology can—and should—accommodate social theory in its analysis but from a different premise than is currently often the case. The proposed operations will contribute to a complexity-informed understanding of human behavior in coupled socio-ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land provides a foundation for socio-cultural identity, economic survival and political stability in most sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. However, land-related crisis in the wake of rapid urbanization without a corresponding rapid expansion of the urban economy has further taken a toll on access to land and tenure security and made effective urban land governance a challenge. Although many reforms have been enacted in the last few decades to formalize traditional customary landholding system in SSA, insecure land and property rights remain the major issues militating effective urban land governance in the region. This paper provides a new theoretical perspective to achieving effective urban land governance in the context of SSA. This new perspective, based on transcendental critical realism, offers a useful meta-theoretical foundation that looks beyond the discernible but complex social reality about land and the relations it entails to the underlying causal powers and generative mechanisms that have produced these evidential phenomena. Based on a critical analysis of existing literature, the paper argued that if the processes that generate the social phenomenon of landholding are better understood, more appropriate approaches for managing these generative causes can be devised rather than simply mitigating the effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We combine the concepts of 'black elephants' and wicked problems with Roy Bhaskar's critical realist philosophy of science and frame the current state of the coronavirus pandemic as an analogy for impending sustainability challenges. We point out and illustrate that the interaction of different ontological levels of our world as it 'is' will likely remain a challenge in addressing the wicked problems of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological theory, as represented in the two main U.S. theory journals, has been diverted from the project of generalized explanation by a propensity for over-refinement, a preference for small-scale conceptual innovations linked to specific and sometimes quite obscure cases, a tendency to focus on heroes of theory rather than their generalizable ideas, and too much attention to the flux and instability of social life. These conclusions are based on a content analysis of 445 journal articles over a recent 11-year period. As an alternative, I propose focusing on high-leverage sociological concepts, those that have explanatory power across multiple settings, subfields, and levels of analysis, as well as the variables that are most important for conditioning their explanatory force. I connect the project with a recessive theme in the work of the mid-20th century sociologist and theorist Robert K. Merton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to show how the scientific realism proposed by the philosopher Evandro Agazzi contributes to the epistemological development of social discursive psychology. To do this, the debates led by Ian Parker and John Greenwood in the early 1990s about scientific and critical realism are addressed. In this debate, the limits of naive empiricism and discursive idealism, which began to predominate in discursive social psychology, are highlighted. Evandro Agazzi's assumptions about scientific realism are then presented to account for the contributions of scientific realism to the epistemological development of discursive social psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social ontological inquiry has been pursued in analytic philosophy as well as in the social scientific tradition of critical realism. These traditions have remained largely separate despite partly overlapping concerns and similar underlying strategies of argumentation. They have also both been the subject of similar criticisms based on naturalistic approaches to the philosophy of science, which have addressed their apparent reliance on a transcendental mode of reasoning, their seeming distance from social scientific practice, and their (erroneous?) tendency to advocate global solutions to local and pragmatic problems. Two approaches aiming to naturalize these two traditions of social ontology have been proposed in recent years: one drawing on a Gierean, model-based approach to scientific practice, the other drawing on inference to the best explanation. In our paper, we compare and contrast these naturalistic approaches to social ontology in terms of their capacity to respond to the aforementioned challenges. We also defend a form of methodological pluralism, according to which there are multiple different naturalistically acceptable approaches to social ontology, which emphasize contrasting procedural continuities between social scientific research and philosophical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Markets as objects of study in their own right have been given surprisingly little attention within neoclassical economics. The market has, in contrast, remained in the foreground for heterodox schools of economics, including market process theory. This essay suggests that the market remained in the analytical foreground for market process theorists even as it was increasingly absent in neoclassical economics on account of the different ontological commitments characterizing the two traditions. Attending to the ontological dimension of economic thought offers us a more complete understanding of how economics could become disconnected from the markets of the real world as well as why it was retained by heterodox economists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roy Bhaskar, renowned philosopher of naturalism and critical realism, discloses key new personal and political context to his writings to interlocutor Savita Singh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanism realists assert the existence of mechanisms as objective structures in the world, but their exact metaphysical commitments are unclear. We introduce Local Hierarchy Realism (LHR) as a substantive and plausible form of mechanism realism. The limits of LHR reveal a deep tension between two aspects of mechanists' explanatory strategy. Functional decomposition identifies locally relevant entities and activities, while these same entities and activities are also embedded in a nested hierarchy of levels. In principle, a functional decomposition may identify entities engaging in causal interactions that crosscut the hierarchical structure of composition relations, violating the mechanist's injunction against interlevel causation. We argue that this possibility is realized in the example of ephaptic coupling, a subsidiary process of neural computation that crosscuts the hierarchy derived from synaptic transmission. These considerations undermine the plausibility of LHR as a general view, yet LHR has the advantages that (i) its metaphysical implications are precisely stateable; (ii) the structure it identifies is not reducible to mere aggregate causation; and (iii) it clearly satisfies intuitive and informal definitions of mechanism. We conclude by assessing the prospects for a form of mechanism realism weaker than LHR that nevertheless satisfies all three of these requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the population movement and the widespread changes in the demographic structure of the regions challenge socio-spatial cohesion in different areas. Increasing demographic diversity with different identities, lifestyles, and cultures changes the spatial structure. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the spatial settlement patterns, social networks, and the mental components affecting them. The present study investigates socio-spatial cohesion in the Mashhad metropolitan region, Iran using the critical realism paradigm. First-hand data based on structured and semi-structured interviews were analyzed by spatial statistics techniques, social network analysis, and thematic analysis. The results show general segregation and the cluster pattern of ethnicities. In this respect, space can be divided into homogeneous groups based on strong social ties. Forces such as the stereotypes about some ethnic groups, feeling threatened, and the gap between groups have affected the area's space and prevented the establishment of weak ties in the multi-ethnic community of the area. The study of socio-spatial cohesion in this framework shows the role of mental barriers in segregation and gaps between groups. Overall, paying attention to these factors helps understand the challenges of social cohesion in diverse societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourse about public perception of science is often positioned as a dichotomy between trust in scientific evidence and scientists as experts, versus critiques of the limitations of scientific knowledge and a mistrust in scientists as biased professionals and political agents. However, this dichotomy becomes something of a false argument, as our tendency to look for the "right" answer in these arguments often gets in the way of finding a balancing point in which both of these positions could be held in productive tension. The purpose of the present article is to lay out the argument that society can both trust in scientific evidence and question scientific bias in the same space, holding these two seemingly opposite positions in productive tension, and that we should teach students to do the same. Critical realism is presented as an ontology and epistemology to frame science education, and focus on the development of critical scientific literacy by teaching students what is real and what is arbitrary about science. Recommendations for science education are outlined, grounded in critical realism and connected to current education research and principles of the nature of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many schools attempt to address the needs of "English-language learners," who usually are Spanish-dominant Latinxs, by offering dual-language (DL) bilingual education. While undertaking a larger ethnographic study of one such secondary-level dual-language program, I examined how dual-language teachers understood the program as equitable for Latinxs. I found that teachers believed DL met Latinxs' needs by providing Spanish-language/biliteracy schooling, which deemphasized the need for explicitly enhancing youths' critical consciousness. This teacher ideology of assuming DL is "inherently culturally relevant" led to significant issues. For example, teachers believed DL would improve Latinxs' academic achievement, but when teachers perceived Latinx achievement was not on par with White dual-language students' outcomes, teachers made sense of Latinxs' underperformance in DL through racist explanations and did not interrogate the program's cultural relevance. Specifically, teachers pointed to the program not providing Latinxs the needed Spanish input even though the Latinx students self-identified as bilingual and were the "Spanish-dominant" students, and teachers pointed to Latinxs' cultural and familial deficits. I argue teachers overlooked critical-racial consciousness as an important component of an equitable education. Implications include for teachers to cultivate their critical-racial consciousness, interrogate raciolinguistic ideologies, and define an equitable DL as centering critical-racial consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a new label, "a methodological framework for studying implications of a philosophy, a framework, a theory, a model, or an idea for other disciplines or other knowledge areas." This methodology falls into the category of unobtrusive methodologies. Generally, "implication refers to the conclusion that can be drawn from something although it is not explicitly stated." This framework is proposed to answer this question: what methodology should a researcher adopt to study the "consequences of," "influences of," "applications of, "or "implications of "old and new philosophies, theories, models, or theoretical ideas for his or her field of study? For example, what is the appropriate methodology to answer the following question? What are the "implications of critical realism philosophy" for organization studies? There is a shortfall of methodology to answer the above questions. The author has proposed a methodological framework for such studies. Thus, the author has called this type of study "implication eliciting studies" and marked their methodology as "implication eliciting methodology." Given the interdisciplinary nature of all fields in social science and humanities, this methodology can play an essential role in producing knowledge underlying those areas. This paper aims to introduce the methodology and discuss philosophical assumptions and stances, inquiry logics, guidelines for practice, and sociopolitical commitments in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is policy change possible if policy entrepreneurs' cognition, rationality and identity are conditioned by the very policy institutions they wish to change? To solve this paradox of embedded agency, we must avoid either voluntarism that inflates the role of actors to change policies as by existing policy entrepreneurship applications, or determinism whereby policy changes are decided by contextual forces. Instead, drawing on institutional theory, critical realism sees structures, institutions, and actions that constitute policy dynamics as existing in separate yet intertwined reality domains: structures (e.g., social relationships), and institutions (e.g., formal rules and norms such as institutional logics) in the Real domain, enable and constrain policy actors' navigation of their social environments; the Actual domain represents the level at which events (actions) happen, as these actors constantly interpret varied institutions to adjust their structurally embedded actions when pursuing policy changes that can be observed in the Empirical domain. Put differently, structures and institutions are mechanisms in the Real domain that affect individual practices and events in the Actual domain, and only some of these events are realized in the Empirical domain as policy changes. We empirically illustrate this critical realist approach with a Chinese example on health care reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical and psychological changes during menopause can be especially tumultuous for autistic people: difficulties with sensory sensitivity and daily functioning may be exacerbated. Through individual interviews, we examined the language used by seven peri- or post-menopausal autistic people to construct their experiences, and to consider the implications for their wellbeing and identities. Our analysis, which utilised thematic decomposition, yielded three discursive themes. The theme "Uncertainty about Changes" addressed how limited awareness and understanding of menopause combined with difficulties recognising internal states. However, with "Growing Self-Awareness and Self-Care", some participants made conscious efforts to resist negative societal constructions of both autism and menopause. The theme "Navigating Support Options" addressed the interpersonal and systemic barriers participants faced when seeking support. There is a need for accessible information for autistic people experiencing menopause, and greater professional awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a case for placing knowledge at the centre of the school mathematics curriculum, and for knowledge building and knowledge differentiation as critical for both equity and excellence, emphasising that knowledge is much more than a set of descriptions of content as might typically be found in a curriculum document or textbook. The paper commences by discussing the implications of the traditional epistemological view of knowledge as justified true belief for mathematics education and uses this to build a preliminary description of knowledge building. Ideas from critical realism are then used to show that it is not so much the content of knowledge that matters but the production of knowledge and to build an enhanced conception of knowledge building in school mathematics. A distinction is made between knowledge and knowing that provides a non-relativist yet fallible view of knowledge, recognising its emergent but directed nature through its production and legitimation within established fields. The importance of knowledge building as a democratic right is then discussed, highlighting the importance of specialised knowledge and arguing that knowledge differentiation provides a basis for a conception of school mathematics curriculum that is dynamic and empowering. The paper concludes by discussing a range of potential theoretical and empirical research projects arising from a focus on knowledge and knowledge building in school mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I use the Critical Realism perspective of power to explain how the Bitcoin protocol operates as a system of power. I trace the ideological underpinnings of the protocol in the Cypherpunk movement to consider how notions of power shaped the protocol. The protocol by design encompasses structures, namely Proof of Work and Trustlessness that reproduce asymmetrical constraints on the entities that comprise it. These constraining structures generate constraining mechanisms, those of cost effectiveness and deanonymisation, which further restrict participating entities’ ‘power to act’, reinforcing others’ ‘power over’ them. In doing so, I illustrate that the Bitcoin protocol, rather than decentralising and distributing power across a network of numerous anonymous, trustless peers, it has instead shifted it, from the traditional actors (e.g., state, regulators) to newly emergent ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is evidential pluralism possible when we move to the social sciences, and if so, to what degree? What are the analytical benefits? The answer put forward in this article is that there is a tradeoff between how serious social science methodologies take the study of mechanisms and the analytical benefits that flow from evidential pluralism. In the social sciences, there are a range of different approaches to studying mechanisms, differentiated by (1) the degree to which the 'process' is unpacked theoretically, and (2) whether the approach takes seriously the particular nature of social phenomena and the epistemological consequences that flow from this, as in realist approaches to the study of mechanisms, or whether more neopositivist-based foundational assumptions are adopted. Depending on which approach to study mechanisms is used, evidential pluralism is either: easy but superficial, very productive but challenging, or almost impossible because of the fundamental differences between the types of claims being made and the forms of evidence used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the principles behind assessment for and as learning are well-established, there can be a struggle when reforming traditional assessment of learning to a program which encompasses assessment for and as learning. When introducing and reporting reforms, tensions in faculty may arise because of differing beliefs about the relationship between assessment and learning and the rules for the validity of assessments. Traditional systems of assessment of learning privilege objective, structured quantification of learners' performances, and are done to the students. Newer systems of assessment promote assessment for learning, emphasise subjectivity, collate data from multiple sources, emphasise narrative-rich feedback to promote learner agency, and are done with the students. This contrast has implications for implementation and evaluative research. Research of assessment which is done to students typically asks, "what works", whereas assessment that is done with the students focuses on more complex questions such as "what works, for whom, in which context, and why?" We applied such a critical realist perspective drawing on the interplay between structure and agency, and a systems approach to explore what theory says about introducing programmatic assessment in the context of pre-existing traditional approaches. Using a reflective technique, the internal conversation, we developed four factors that can assist educators considering major change to assessment practice in their own contexts. These include enabling positive learner agency and engagement; establishing argument-based validity frameworks; designing purposeful and eclectic evidence-based assessment tasks; and developing a shared narrative that promotes reflexivity in appreciating the complex relationships between assessment and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we reflect on the effectiveness of cognitive mapping (CMing) as a method to study farm functioning in its complexity and its diverse forms in the framework of our own experiment with a diverse group of Flemish beef farmers. With a structured direct elicitation method we gathered 30 CMs. We analyzed the content of these maps both qualitatively and quantitatively. The central role of the concept "Income" in most maps indicated a shared concern for economic security. Further, the CMs indicated that farmers dealt with this shared social reality differently, as the relationships included in their maps referred to different functional processes relating to revenue streams, marketing strategies, investment decisions, dependence on production inputs, on-farm resource management, and personal well-being. With a clustering algorithm we grouped farmers based on the relationships in their maps, which allowed us to trace some of the broader patterns within the data, such as the existence of more business- and investment-minded farmers, in contrast to farmers focused on their quality of life, and animal production-oriented in contrast to marketing-oriented farmers. Taking into account farmers' comments, we find that the applied methods had limited capability to classify farmers based on their perspectives on farming. Still, the system presentations proved useful to study what aspects farmers were working on or towards, and how these aspects may actually fit together as a whole. CMing was therefore mostly effective in exploring farm functioning in its complexity, and less so in exploring farm functioning in its diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wittgenstein famously introduced the notion of 'hinge propositions': propositions that are assumptions or presuppositions of our languages, conceptual schemes, and language games, presuppositions that cannot themselves be rationally established, defended, or challenged. This idea has given rise to an epistemological approach, 'hinge epistemology', which itself has important (negative) implications for argumentation. In particular, it develops and provides support for Robert Fogelin's case for deep disagreements: disagreements that cannot be rationally resolved by processes of rational argumentation. In this paper, I first examine hinge epistemology in its own right, and then explore its implications for arguments and the theory of argumentation. I argue that (1) the Wittgensteinian approach to hinge propositions is problematic, and that, suitably understood, they can be rationally challenged, defended, and evaluated; (2) there are no well-formed, coherent propositions, 'hinge' or otherwise, that are beyond epistemic evaluation, critical scrutiny, and argumentative support/critique; and (3) good arguments concerning hinge propositions are not only possible but common. My arguments will rely on a thoroughgoing fallibilism, a rejection of 'privileged' frameworks, and an insistence on the challengeability of all frameworks, both from within and from without. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Early Childhood is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This document is an introduction to a collection of articles on the topic of direct realism in philosophy. The collection was the result of a workshop held in 2022 and includes contributions from various scholars. The introduction also mentions the tragic death of one of the contributors, Justin Donhauser, who passed away before submitting his final revisions. The collection aims to explore the historical and systematic perspectives on direct realism and hopes to foster a better understanding of this philosophical concept. The articles in the collection cover a range of topics, including the views of philosophers such as Descartes, Bertrand Russell, and John Dewey. The introduction provides a brief overview of each article in the collection. [Extracted from the article]

This article demonstrates how critical realism can resolve persistent theoretical debates in the human rights literature. Critical realism is a philosophy of science that proposes a complex ontological framework to study causal relations. Methodological and theoretical decisions in research are always premised on some ontological presumption whether they are explicitly stated or not. However, much of the social sciences follow the discipline's empiricist orthodoxy which often dismisses ontological inquiry. As a consequence, theoretical and methodological debates persist without scholars recognizing how they reflect deeper ontological differences. I argue that this is the case with human rights research and demonstrate how critical realism can resolve tensions between universalism and relativism. Critical realism proposes that social relations resolve across multiple ontological levels. This ontological framework can illustrate how universal structures on one level can generate diverse human rights standards on another level relative to the cultural conditions that bring them about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific realism is a critical target of anti-representationalists such as Richard Rorty and Huw Price, who have questioned the very possibility of providing a satisfactory argument for realism or any other ontological position. I will argue that there is a viable form of realism which not only withstands this criticism but is vindicated on the antirepresentationalists' own grounds. This realist position, largely drawn from the notion of the scientific method developed by the founder of philosophical pragmatism, Charles S. Peirce, will further be compared with the accounts of truth and objectivity proposed by the contemporary pragmatists, Rorty, Price, and Robert B. Brandom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A graph G is called a fractional (g, f)-covered graph if for any e ∈ E(G), G admits a fractional (g, f)-factor covering e. A graph G is called a fractional (g, f, n)-critical covered graph if for any S ⊆ V(G) with ∣S∣ = n, G − S is a fractional (g, f)-covered graph. A fractional (g, f, n)-critical covered graph is said to be a fractional (a, b, n)-critical covered graph if g(x) = a and f(x) = b for every x ∈ V(G). A fractional (a, b, n)-critical covered graph was first defined and studied in [1]. In this article, we investigate fractional (g, f, n)-critical covered graphs and present a binding number condition for the existence of fractional (g, f, n)-critical covered graphs, which is an improvement and generalization of a previous result obtained in [2]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to develop theoretical and practical anti-opressive approaches for educators in pre-service and in-service teacher training. This article is strengths-based in its approach and relies upon Indigenous and critical theory foundations to recognize and negotiate oppression in education. An assumption of this paper is that most teacher education students do not recognize the invisible and normalized ways students experience oppression, and that social justice education sometimes lacks practical approaches. It is critical to recognize that social justice education need not be prescriptive, but that a framework can help guide student engagement in social justice to resist inaction induced by indecision and fear. Through a framework I have created, by amalgamating critical theory and Indigenous epistemologies, I present one productive possibility for achieving these ends. Applying Indigenous theoretical principles in teacher education introduces our students to complex knowledge systems of Indigenous civilizations and challenges assumptions of White supremacy. The approached described in this paper establishes a framework in both social justice education and action plans that pre-service teachers can one day implement in their classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student engagement is critical to success in the first year of university, yet evidence about how and why various factors influence engagement remains relatively rare. This study addresses this gap combining an existing framework of student engagement (Kahu and Nelson, Higher Education Research and Development, 37(1), 58–71, 2018) with student narratives to provide a detailed understanding of students' engagement throughout their first year. Weekly semi-structured interviews with 19 first-year students at an Australian university illustrate how student and university factors interact to influence engagement, as conceptualised in the framework. The findings provide empirical support for the framework of student engagement, offering a more nuanced understanding of the student experience within the framework's educational interface. The importance of self-efficacy, belonging, emotions and wellbeing as interwoven pathways to student engagement is demonstrated and the contextual and dynamic nature of engagement highlighted. Further work is necessary to understand how this knowledge can best facilitate student engagement and perhaps reduce cycles of disengagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, philosophers and social scientists have applied the so-called powers ontology to the social domain. I argue that this application is highly problematic: many of the alleged powers in the social realm violate the intrinsicality condition, and those that can be coherently taken to be intrinsic to their bearers are arguably causally redundant. I end the paper by offering a diagnosis of why philosophers and social scientists have been tempted to think that there are powers in social realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blended learning, a combination of face-to-face and computer-assisted pedagogy, is gaining acceptance at universities as an alternative learning experience. Modern technology has given faculty new ways to incorporate active learning and increase student engagement in their courses. Although the broad history of technology-enhanced coursework has demonstrated that student learning is usually very comparable to what occurs in traditional coursework, recent studies focusing specifically on blended learning in totally redesigned classes report positive results. Were those positive results due to the online blending or to the redesign of the class? To answer this question and other limitations and challenges in past studies, the authors present their unique research that measures learning in a blended undergraduate management information systems course where identical classes were compared, one being all face-to-face and one being one-third online. By varying only course modality, this research answers the question of whether blended learning is a superior learning environment in an undergraduate MIS class, a second-level MIS class covering ERP, business processes, databases, advanced spreadsheets, and data analytics. Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, the authors use a critical realism lens to create a mechanism for learning. Quantitative data, analyzed by multiple regression models and qualitative data, analyzed by content analysis lead to the outcome that learning is comparable to traditional coursework, grade-wise, but students prefer face-to-face class time. It also reveals that self-regulatory skills are evident, confirming that blended learning can aid in the construction of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the implications of adopting a critical realist approach to soft systems methodology (SSM) both to address local problematic situations and to develop deeper explanations. However, its potential as a means for developing generalizable knowledge for management science has been limited due at least in part to its adherence to strong interpretivism. After exploring the history of soft systems methodology and basic tenants of critical realism, the paper builds on previous discussions of ways in which SSM is compatible with a critical realist approach. Next, the consequences for such an approach are considered by examining a case in which SSM was integrated into a critical realist approach for discovery as means to guide large-scale reform in a non-profit organization. The case revealed that critical realism served as an effective guide both for incorporating existing knowledge as well as setting the stage for its possible modification. Opportunities and challenges in the approach are presented. Apart from the adoption of a realist ontology, a critical realist approach to SSM requires assuming a dual-role as an insider--outsider, which presents a number of challenges. However, it appears soft systems methodology are highly compatible and could serve to help bridge the practice--research gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of Stalin's death and the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's early fictions, Georg Lukács claimed to discern a revivification of socialist realism, the officially-sanctioned school of Soviet literature. A furtherance of that process was integral to the "renaissance of Marxism" and vitalization of socialist democracy that he hoped would restore the faith in socialism shaken by the Stalinist era. Although he dared not admit it, he envisioned a socialist realism cast in the image of bourgeois "critical realism." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Including the perspectives of scientists about the nature and process of science is important for an authentic and nuanced portrayal of science in science education. The small number of studies that have explored scientists’ worldviews about science has thus far generated contradictory findings, with recent studies claiming that scientists simultaneously hold contradictory sophisticated and naïve views. This article reports on an exploratory study that uses the framework of Bhaskar’s critical realism to elicit and separately analyse academic scientists’ ontological and epistemological views about science in semi-structured interviews. When the views of scientists are analysed through the lens of critical realism, it is clear that it is possible to hold a realist ontological commitment about what knowledge is of, simultaneously with a fallibilist epistemological commitment about knowledge itself. The apparent incongruence of scientists’ so-called naïve and sophisticated views about science is resolved when analysed using a critical realist framework. Critical realism offers a simple and coherent framework for science educators that avoids many of the problems of positivism and social constructivism by finding a middle ground between them. The three pillars of critical realism: ontological realism, epistemological fallibilism and judgmental rationality help to make sense of how socially constructed scientific knowledge can be anchored in an independent reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pragmatism has recently gained ground as a theoretical perspective in sociology. The approach is not without its critics, however. One common charge is that pragmatism is oriented toward the micro and not well suited for the explanation of meso- or macro-level events, processes, or outcomes. In this paper—a review essay—I consider whether the charge has merit. I examine four studies that draw heavily on pragmatism and give some indication of its explanatory potential. Taken together, these studies suggest that pragmatism has much to offer analysts of large-scale social phenomena. At the same time, key issues remain to be worked out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article re-examines the contents of Singapore’s Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) and Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) educational initiatives, introduced and implemented to promote change and to prepare Singaporeans for a twenty-first century knowledge-based economy. Adopting a critical realist perspective that enables investigations into complex social systems, the paper highlights the concepts, change process and possible outcomes of change proposed by realist social theory. An explanatory critique responding to the question, ‘What social structural changes were implemented by the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, and why?’ is developed, tracing the programmes of change in TSLN and TLLM. Findings reported in 2013, by a local large-scale research project, has made claims about the ineffectiveness of the initiatives in bringing about desired changes in classroom instructional practices. The critique questions—given Singapore’s recent and consistent successful performances in international benchmarking tests—whether it is only in the classroom that educational change that matters, counts. It suggests that despite making strong statements about the limited effectiveness of the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, many programs introduced and adopted by primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions, especially under TLLM, were left unexamined by the research project. The explanatory critique theorises that two kinds of changes have taken place—the reorientation of pedagogical practices in post-secondary institutions and extensions of what already exists in the primary and secondary sections. The paper concludes by highlighting some implications the explanatory critique have for research into educational change in general, and for educational change in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue we have asked the contributors to make a case for the case study. The guest editors, Jeffrey Longhofer, Jerry Floersch and Eric Hartmann, intergrate ideas from across the disciplines to explore the complexties of case study methods and theory. In education, Gary Thomas explores the importance of ethnographic case studies in understanding the relationships among schools, teachers, and students. Lance Dodes and Josh Dodes use the case study to articulate a psychoanalytic approach to addiction. In policy and generalist practice, Nancy Cartwright and Jeremy Hardie elaborate a model for a case-by-case approach to prediction and the swampy ground prediction serves up to practitioners. Christian Salas and Oliver Turnbull persuasively write about the role of the case study in neuro-psychoanalysis and illustrate it with a case vignette. In political science, Sanford Schram argues for a bottom up and ethnographic approach to studying policy implementation by describing a case of a home ownership program in Philadelphia. Eric Hartman queers the case study by articulating its role in deconstructing normative explanations of sexuality. In applied psychology, Daniel Fishman describes a comprehensive applied psychology perspective on the paradigmatic case study. Richard Miller and Miriam Jaffe offer us important ways of thinking about writing the case study and the use of multi-media. Each contributor brings a unique perspective to the use of the case study in their field, yet they share practical and philosophical assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how critical realism can be used to integrate empirical data and philosophical analysis within 'empirical bioethics'. The term empirical bioethics, whilst appearing oxymoronic, simply refers to an interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of practical ethical issues within the biological and life sciences, integrating social scientific, empirical data with philosophical analysis. It seeks to achieve a balanced form of ethical deliberation that is both logically rigorous and sensitive to context, to generate normative conclusions that are practically applicable to the problem, challenge, or dilemma. Since it incorporates both philosophical and social scientific components, empirical bioethics is a field that is consistent with the use of critical realism as a research methodology. The integration of philosophical and social scientific approaches to ethics has been beset with difficulties, not least because of the irreducibly normative, rather than descriptive, nature of ethical analysis and the contested relation between fact and value. However, given that facts about states of affairs inform potential courses of action and their consequences, there is a need to overcome these difficulties and successfully integrate data with theory. Previous approaches have been formulated to overcome obstacles in combining philosophical and social scientific perspectives in bioethical analysis; however each has shortcomings. As a mature interdisciplinary approach critical realism is well suited to empirical bioethics, although it has hitherto not been widely used. Here I show how it can be applied to this kind of research and explain how it represents an improvement on previous approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]