We examined 155 behavioral information systems research articles published from 1983-1988and found that while this research is not rooted in a single overarching theoretical perspective itdoes exhibit a single set of philosophical assumptions about the nature of valid evidence andthe phenomena of interest to information systems researchers. We argue in this paper that thesephilosophical assumptions draw on the natural science tradition, and hence may not always beappropriate for inquiry into the relationships between information technology and people or organizations. In particular, we suggest that the development and use of information technologywithin organizations is inherently processual and contextual, and that these characteristics are notalways adequately captured by the philosophical assumptions prevalent in information systemsresearch. Positing social process as central to information systems phenomena asserts theimportance of studying the ongoing interactions among people, information technology andorganizations, as these are situated historically and contextually.We argue in this paper that the dominant research perspective in information systems research isnot well-equipped to deal with situated interactions over time, and propose additional researchphilosophies to augment the one currently favored by behavioral information systemsresearchers. We outline the features of such additional research perspectives, the interpretive andthe critical, providing empirical examples to illustrate how and when they may be useful. Weconclude that multiple research perspectives can usefully be employed within the informationsystems community to enrich understanding of behavioral information systems phenomena.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/2451_14404.pdf?abstractid=1289076&mirid=1&type=2

Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions

This engaging 2005 introduction offers a critical approach to discourse, written by an expert uniquely placed to cover the subject for a variety of disciplines. Organised along thematic lines, the book begins with an outline of the basic principles, moving on to examine the methods and theory of CDA (critical discourse analysis). It covers topics such as text and context, language and inequality, choice and determination, history and process, ideology and identity. Blommaert focuses on how language can offer a crucial understanding of wider aspects of power relations, arguing that critical discourse analysis should specifically be an analysis of the 'effects' of power, what power does to people, groups and societies, and how this impact comes about. Clearly argued, this concise introduction will be welcomed by students and researchers in a variety of disciplines involved in the study of discourse, including linguistics, linguistic anthropology and the sociology of language.

Discourse: A Critical Introduction

Ideology has re-emerged as an important topic of inquiry among social, personality, and political psychologists. In this review, we examine recent theory and research concerning the structure, contents, and functions of ideological belief systems. We begin by defining the construct and placing it in historical and philosophical context. We then examine different perspectives on how many (and what types of) dimensions individuals use to organize their political opinions. We investigate (a) how and to what extent individuals acquire the discursive contents associated with various ideologies, and (b) the social-psychological functions that these ideologies serve for those who adopt them. Our review highlights “elective affinities” between situational and dispositional needs of individuals and groups and the structure and contents of specific ideologies. Finally, we consider the consequences of ideology, especially with respect to attitudes, evaluations, and processes of system justification.

/pdf/political-ideology-its-structure-functions-and-elective-2w0o4jejn9.pdf

Political ideology: Its structure, functions, and elective affinities

In a work with far-reaching implications, Chela Sandoval does no less than revise the genealogy of theory over the past thirty years, inserting what she terms "U.S. Third World feminism" into the narrative in a way that thoroughly alters our perspective on contemporary culture and subjectivity.What Sandoval has identified is a language, a rhetoric of resistance to postmodern cultural conditions. U.S liberation movements of the post-World War II era generated specific modes of oppositional consciousness. Out of these emerged a new activity of consciousness and language Sandoval calls the "methodology of the oppressed". This methodology -- born of the strains of the cultural and identity struggles that currently mark global exchange -- holds out the possibility of a new historical moment, a new citizen-subject, and a new form of alliance consciousness and politics. Utilizing semiotics and U.S. Third World feminist criticism, Sandoval demonstrates how this methodology mobilizes love as a category of critical analysis. Rendering this approach in all its specifics, Methodology of the Oppressed gives rise to an alternative mode of criticism opening new perspectives on a theoretical, literary, aesthetic, social movement, or psychic expression.

Methodology of the oppressed

(1993). WHAT IS POLICY? TEXTS, TRAJECTORIES AND TOOLBOXES. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 10-17.

What is policy? texts, trajectories and toolboxes

Ideology: An Introduction

Social Theory and Modern Sociology

Capitalism and Leisure Theory

Walter Benjamin: The Colour of Experience

Based on the new German edition of Philosophisch-politische Profile which has attracted serious and widespread attention, this book includes thirteen pieces written by Habermas between 1958 and 1978 - the most important of those in the German edition, plus additional articles.In these essays, Habermas offers a clear and strikingly personal examination of major modern German philosophers and cultural critics, focusing particularly on the content of their thought in relation to their respective political and biographical contexts.Contents: Does Philosophy Still Have a Purpose?; The German Influence (Heidegger); The Figures of Truth (Jaspers); Karl Lowith's Stoic Retreat from Historical Consciousness; A Marxist Schelling (Bloch); A Primal History of Subjectivity and Self-Affirmation Gone Wild (Adorno); Imitated Substantiality (Gehlen); Consciousness-raising or Rescuing Critique-On the Relevance of Walter Benjamin; Herbert Marcuse on Art and Revolution; Hannah Arendt's Concept of Power; The Hidden Torah (Gershom Scholem); Urbanizing the Heideggerian Province-In Praise of Hans-Georg Gadamer.Philosophical-Political Profiles is included in the series, Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought.

Alan Swingewood

Papers

Ideology: An Introduction

Social Theory and Modern Sociology

Capitalism and Leisure Theory

Walter Benjamin: The Colour of Experience

Philosophical-Political Profiles