This reader is designed to make accessible in one volume, to lay person and academic, student and teacher alike, key readings to stimulate debate about and within critical realism. The four parts cover: the transcendmental realist philosophy of science elaborated in A Realist Theory of Science, by Roy Bhaskar; Bhaskar's naturalist philosophy of social science; the theory of explanatory critique, which is central to critical realism; and the theme of dialectice, which is central to Bhaskar's most recent writings. The volume includes extracts from Bhaskar's books, as well as selections from...

Rational Choice Theory is flourishing in sociology and is increasingly influential in other disciplines. Contributors to this volume are convinced that it provides an inadequate conceptualization of all aspects of decision making: of the individuals who make the decisions, of the process by which decisions get made and of the context within which decisions get made.
The ciritique focuses on the four assumptions which are the bedrock of rational choice:
rationality: the theory's definition of rationality is incomplete, and cannot satisfactorily incorporate norms and emotions...

This critique focuses on assumptions which are the bedrock of rational choice. The theory's definition of rationality is incomplete, and cannot satisfactorily incorporate norms and emotions. Rational choice is based upon atomistic, individual decision makers and cannot account for decisions made by couples, groups or other forms of collective action process. The assumption of fixed, well-ordered preferences and perfect information makes the theory inadequate for situations of change and uncertainty aggregation. As methodological individualists, rational choice theorists can only view...

Atheism as a belief does not have to present intellectual credentials within academia. Yet to hold beliefs means giving reasons for doing so, ones which may be found wanting. Instead, atheism is the automatic default setting within the academic world.

Conversely, religious belief confronts a double standard. Religious believers are not permitted to make truth claims but are instead forced to present their beliefs as part of one language game amongst many. Religious truth claims are expected to satisfy empiricist criteria of evidence but when they fail, as they must, religious belief...

Andrew Collier is the boldest defender of objectivity - in science, knowledge, thought, action, politics, morality and religion. In this tribute and acknowledgement of the influence his work has had on a wide readership, his colleagues show that they have been stimulated by his thinking and offer challenging responses. This wide-ranging book covers key areas with which defenders of objectivity often have to engage. Sections are devoted to the following:
* objectivity of value
* objectivity and everyday knowledge
* objectivity in political economy
* objectivity and...

Margaret Archer develops here her morphogenetic approach, heralded in Culture and Agency (CUP, 1988), and applies it to the problem of structure and agency, that is, how we both shape society and are shaped by it. Her aim is to capture the interplay between these two processes rather than collapse them into one, as has been the case with the traditional competing individualist and collectivist methodologies. The morphogenetic approach offers a new understanding of social change and poses a direct challenge to Giddens' structuration theory.

Margaret Archer develops here her morphogenetic approach, heralded in Culture and Agency (CUP, 1988), and applies it to the problem of structure and agency, that is, how we both shape society and are shaped by it. Her aim is to capture the interplay between these two processes rather than collapse them into one, as has been the case with the traditional competing individualist and collectivist methodologies. The morphogenetic approach offers a new understanding of social change and poses a direct challenge to Giddens' structuration theory.

This is a revised edition of Margaret Archer's Culture and Agency (CUP, 1988), a seminal contribution to social theory and the case for the role of culture in sociological thought. Described as "a timely and sophisticated treatment," the book showed that the "problems" of culture and agency and structure and agency could be solved using the same analytical framework. The revised edition contextualizes the argument in 1990s sociology and links it to Professor Archer's latest book, Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach (CUP, 1995).

How do we reflect upon ourselves and our concerns in relation to society, and vice versa? Human reflexivity works through 'internal conversations' using language, but also emotions, sensations and images. Most people acknowledge this 'inner-dialogue' and can report upon it. However, little research has been conducted on 'internal conversations' and how they mediate between our ultimate concerns and the social contexts we confront. In this book, Margaret Archer argues that reflexivity is progressively replacing routine action in late modernity, shaping how ordinary people make their way...

The human subject is under threat from postmodernist thinking that has declared the "Death of God" and the "Death of Man." This book is a revindication of the concept of humanity, rejecting contemporary social theory that seeks to diminish human properties and powers. Archer argues that being human depends on an interaction with the real world in which practice takes primacy over language in the emergence of human self-consciousness, thought, emotionality and personal identity--all of which are prior to, and more basic than, our acquisition of a social identity.