Postcritical research

1. POST-CRITICAL
RESEARCH

2. What does “critical” mean?
• The word ‘critical’ stems from the idea of
‘critique’, which was used in distinct ways by
Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx.
• Critical – making reasoned judgments that are
logical and well thought out.

3. What is ‘post-critical’?
• ‘Post-Critical’ is a term coined by scientist-
philosopher Michael Polanyi Post-Critical is a
term coined by scientist-philosopher Michael
Polanyi in the 1950s to designate a position
beyond the Critical philosophical orientation.

4. What is post critical research?
• Post Critical Research is a type of analytical
research that primarily studies the way social
power abuse, dominance, and inequality are
enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and
talk in the social and political context.

5. Characteristics of Post-Critical
Research
1. Post-critical research shapes and is shaped by
society
2. Post-critical research helps to constitute (and
change) knowledge, social relations and social
identity
3. Post-critical research is shaped by relations of
power and invested with ideologies
4. The shaping of a post-critical research is a stake
in power struggles
5. Post-critical research aims to show how society
and discourse shape each other

6. The Foundational Questions in Post
Critical Perspective
• Cannella and Lincoln (2009) identified two
foundational questions in post critical
perspectives:
1. Who/what is helped/privileged/legitimated?
2. Who/what is harmed/opposed/disqualified?

7. The Key Aspects of Post Critical
Researchers
1. They seek to ‘illuminate the hidden structures of
power deployed in the construction of its own
power, and the disempowerment of others
2. They inquire ‘deeply into the usages of language
and the circulation of discourses that shape social
life’.
3. They are ‘profoundly engaged with issues of race,
gender and socioeconomic level’ as separate issues
but increasingly where they intersect.

8. The Necessity of a Post-Critical
Research
• Post-critical research is very necessary in
increasing the awareness of “social actors”
(people) of the contradictory conditions of
actions and in answering theoretical
questions, advancing theoretical researches
and political practices.

9. Some Differences between Post Critical
Research and Positivist Approach
Research
1. Different Images of Society and Human
Nature
2. The Constitution of Social Science Knowledge
3. The Form of Scientific Knowledge
4. The Role of the Social Scientist

10. Common Topics of Post-Critical
Researches
1. Macro vs. micro
2. Power as control
3. Control of public discourse
4. Gender inequality
5. Ethnocentrism
6. Antisemitism
7. Nationalism
8. Racism

11. Steps Involved in Post Critical
Research
1. Identify Movements or Social Groups Whose
Interests are Progressive.
2. Develop an Interpretative Understanding of the
Intersubjective Meanings, Values and Motives
Held by All Groups of Actors in the Subjects’
Milieu
3. Study the historical development of the social
conditions and current social structures that
constrain the participants’ actions and shape
their understanding.

12. 4. Construct models of the determinate
relations between social conditions,
intersubjective interpretations of those
conditions and participants’ actions.
5. Eludicate the fundamental contradictions
which are developing a result of current actions
based on ideologically frozen understandings.
6. Participate in a program of education with the
subjects that gives them new ways of seeing
their situation.

13. 7. Participate in a theoretically grounded
program of action which will change social
conditions, and in addition, will engender new
less alienated understandings and needs.