Critical Social Research

Abstract

Originally published in 1990, Critical Social Research is a unique methodology textbook that provides students, lecturers and indeed all those involved in social research with an invaluable illustrative guide. The author argues that critical social research offers a perspective and a methodology that transcends divisions between quantitative and qualitative approaches. At the heart of critical social research is the idea that knowledge is structured by existing sets of social relations; its aim is to provide knowledge that engages with and challenges prevailing oppressive social structures. This book is divided into three sections, each addressing a different form of oppression – those based on class, gender and race. Case studies, from research published for the most part in North America and Britain, are used extensively to demonstrate how empirical critical social research has been done. The case studies, consisting of evaluative summaries of important published research, will in themselves form a useful resource for students. They reveal a variety of techniques including historical analysis, critical ethnography, and semiological and structuralist approaches. Critical social research is extremely varied and may often appear complex: this text provides a cogent explanation of its methodological operation that links epistemological underpinnings to practical techniques.

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