1st Edition
Critical Realism, Feminism, and Gender: A Reader
In assessing the current state of feminism and gender studies, whether on a theoretical or a practical level, it has become increasingly challenging to avoid the conclusion that these fields are in a state of disarray. Indeed, feminist and gender studies discussions are beset with persistent splits and disagreements. This reader suggests that returning to, and placing centre-stage, the role of philosophy, especially critical realist philosophy of science, is invaluable for efforts that seek to overcome or mitigate the uncertainty and acrimony that have resulted from this situation. In particular, it claims that the dialectical logic that runs through critical realist philosophy is ideally suited to advancing feminist and gender studies discussions about broad ontological and epistemological questions and considerations, intersectionality, and methodology, methods, and empirical research. By bringing together four new and eight existing writings this reader provides both a focal point for renewed discussions about the potential and actual contributions of critical realist philosophy to feminism and gender studies and a timely contribution to these discussions.
Making Waves, and Beyond
Michiel van Ingen, Steph Grohmann, and Lena Gunnarsson
Part I Philosophical Preliminaries: Critical Realism, Feminism, and Gender
Michiel van Ingen, Steph Grohmann, and Lena Gunnarsson
1. Feminism, Realism, and Universalism
Tony Lawson
2. Post-structuralist and Constructivist Feminism.
Carrie Hull
3. Sex and Gender: A Critical Realist Approach
Caroline New
4. A Defence of the Category ‘Women’
Lena Gunnarsson
5. Gender Theory Non-conforming: Critical Realist Feminism, Trans Politics, and Affordance Theory
Angela Martinez Dy
Part II Critical Realism and Intersectionality
Michiel van Ingen, Steph Grohmann, and Lena Gunnarsson
6. Developing a Critical Realist Positional Approach to Intersectionality
Angela Martinez Dy, Lee Martin, and Susan Marlow
7. Agency and Ontology within Intersectional Analysis: A Critical Realist Contribution
Sue Clegg
8. Why we keep Separating the ‘Inseparable’: Dialecticising Intersectionality
Lena Gunnarsson
Part III Methodology and Methods: Critical Realism and Empirical Research
Michiel van Ingen, Steph Grohmann, and Lena Gunnarsson
9. The Reality of Gender (Ideology): Using Abduction and Retroduction in Applied Critical Realist Research
Amber J. Fletcher
10. After Constructivism: Rethinking Feminist Security Studies through Interdisciplinary Research
Michiel van Ingen
11. Integrating Critical Realist and Feminist Methodologies: Ethical and Analytical Dilemmas
Sadie Parr
12. Critical Realist Discourse Analysis, Motherhood, and Gender: A Systematic Methodological Approach to Analysis
Wendy Sims-Schouten
Further Readings
Biography
Michiel van Ingen is an Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
Steph Grohmann is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Centre for Homeless and Inclusion Health at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Lena Gunnarsson is a Researcher and Teacher in Gender Studies at Örebro University and Lund University, Sweden.
