Realist social theory : the morphogenetic approach
TL;DR: The Morphogenetic Cycle: the basis of the morphogenetic approach 7. Structural and cultural conditioning 8. The morphogenesis of agency 9. Social elaboration.
Abstract: Building on her seminal contribution to social theory in Culture and Agency, in this 1995 book Margaret Archer develops her morphogenetic approach, applying it to the problem of structure and agency. Since structure and agency constitute different levels of stratified social reality, each possesses distinctive emergent properties which are real and causally efficacious but irreducible to one another. The problem, therefore, is shown to be how to link the two rather than conflate them, as has been common theoretical practice. Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach not only rejects methodological individualism and holism, but argues that the debate between them has been replaced by a new one, between elisionary theorising and emergentist theories based on a realist ontology of the social world. The morphogenetic approach is the sociological complement of transcendental realism, and together they provide a basis for non-conflationary theorizing which is also of direct utility to the practising social analyst.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the new curriculum in Scottish schools at the micro-implementation stage of the policy process within the context of practice, and compared policy constructors' vision of PE to the interpretation of PE teachers who were currently immersed in initiating curricular development.
Abstract: Background: Curriculum for Excellence, a new national policy initiative in Scottish Schools, provides a unified curricular framework for children aged 3–18. Within this framework, Physical Education (PE) now forms part of a collective alongside physical activity and sport, subsumed by the newly created curriculum area of ‘Health and Wellbeing’ (HWB). This research set out to examine the new curriculum in Scottish schools at the micro-implementation stage of the policy process within the context of practice.Purpose: The primary objective was to understand the factors that enable PE teachers to enact government-led policy in a climate which provided schools and teachers greater autonomy, flexibility and responsibility. The secondary objective was to compare policy constructors' vision of PE to the interpretation of PE teachers who were currently immersed in initiating curricular development.Methods and procedures: The research adopted a mixed method survey approach. Eighty-eight secondary school PE teachers...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the core assumptions underlying the multilevel perspective on sociotechnical transitions (MLP) stand up to scrutiny, and the authors assess the consistency of these with the philosophical tradition of critical realism, concluding that there is sufficient ambiguity and flexibility in the MLP to accommodate changes to the underpinning assumptions as well as the use of a broader range of research methods.
53 citations
TL;DR: This article explored faculty-based academics' views on what influences their behaviours and attitudes towards their development, concluding that the significance of agency raises the importance of responding to the 'voices from below' and emergent personal, individual concerns.
Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative case study research was to explore faculty‐based academics' views on what influences their behaviours and attitudes towards their development. Informed by critical realist ontology, the data collection was carried out through narrative interviews with academics in two contrasting English universities. Findings, or areas for reflection, have emerged about the constraints and enablements academics perceive in respect of their professional development. In particular, themes such as: the significance of professional status; misaligned initiatives and priorities; the influence of supportive networks; and emergent personal, individual concerns have surfaced. The conclusion is drawn that the significance of agency raises the importance of responding to the ‘voices from below’.
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TL;DR: The authors argue that discourse can be differentiated from the realm of extra-discursive practice, placed in dialectical relation to this wider realm of social relations, and analysed as a possible causal mechanism in the generation of social phenomena, alongside these other mechanisms, as a way to better determine discourse's actual effect on events.
Abstract: Utilising critical realist philosophy of social science, this article contends that discourse may be studied as a causal mechanism in the generation of events — and one relationally connected to mechanisms of differing kinds. To do this, it is argued that we should adopt critical discourse analysis rather than the guidance of poststructuralist discourse theory. After establishing the key assumptions of poststructuralist discourse theory, some of the substantive analytical tendencies that secrete are discussed and illustrated through a look at the treatment of humanitarian discourse in the International Relations literature on the nature of Western warfare. The article then places discourse within a critical realist view of the social world. I argue that unlike in poststructuralist discourse theory, with critical realism, discourse can be differentiated from the realm of extra-discursive practice, placed in dialectical relation to this wider realm of social relations, and analysed as a possible causal mechanism in the generation of social phenomena, alongside these other mechanisms, as a way to better determine discourse’s actual effect on events. critical discourse analysis is introduced as offering an amenable methodological tool-kit for studying discourse as conceptualised in this way.
52 citations
TL;DR: The Nature of Transaction Cost Economics as mentioned in this paper is a seminal work in the field of transaction cost economics, and it has been used extensively in many applications in finance and economics, e.g.
Abstract: (1997). The Nature of Transaction Cost Economics. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 781-804.
52 citations