Book Series in Sociology

Routledge Studies in Critical Realism

New & Published Titles:

Explaining Global Poverty

A Critical Realist Approach

By Branwen Gruffydd Jones

The twenty-first century is characterized by extremes of poverty and wealth, of scarcity and abundance. The vast inequalties of wealth distribution between the developed west…

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2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-56869-2 (Routledge)

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Revitalizing Causality

Realism about Causality in Philosophy and Social Science

Edited by Ruth Groff

This cutting edge collection of new and previously published articles by philosophers and social scientists addresses just what it means to invoke causal mechanisms, or…

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2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-56871-5 (Routledge)

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Engendering the State

The International Diffusion of Women's Human Rights

By Lynn Savery

Why have states in general been slower to incorporate the international diffusion of women’s human rights norms domestically than other human rights norms and why…

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2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-56870-8 (Routledge)

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A Philosophical History of German Sociology

By Frédéric Vandenberghe

A Philosophical History of German Sociology presents a systematic reconstruction of critical theory, from the founding fathers of sociology (Marx, Simmel, Weber) via Lukács to…

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2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-56872-2 (Routledge)

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Against the Spiritual Turn

Marxism, Realism, and Critical Theory

By Sean Creaven

The argument presented in this book is that the recent ‘spiritual’ trajectory of Roy Bhaskar’s work, upon which he first embarked with the publication of…

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2009 | Hardback: 978-0-415-49031-3 (Routledge)

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Emergentist Marxism

Dialectical Philosophy and Social Theory

By Sean Creaven

In tackling emergentist Marxism in depth, this well-written volume demonstrates that critical realism and materialist dialectics are indispensable to theorizing the functioning of complex social…

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2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-54760-4 (Routledge)

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Education Policy and Realist Social Theory

Primary Teachers, Child-Centred Philosophy and the New Managerialism

By Robert Wilmott

In Europe welfare state provision has been subjected to 'market forces'. Over the last two decades, the framework of economic competitiveness has become the defining…

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2007 | Paperback: 978-0-415-46433-8 (Routledge)

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Ontology of Sex

By Carrie Hull

Poststructuralism, particularly through the writings of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, has achieved remarkable success in challenging our belief in natural sex categories and instincts.…

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2007 | Paperback: 978-0-415-46436-9 (Routledge)

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Critical Realism, Post-positivism and the Possibility of Knowledge

By Ruth Groff

Groff defends 'realism about causality' through close discussions of Kant, Hilary Putnam, Brian Ellis and Charles Taylor, among others. In so doing she affirms critical…

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2007 | Paperback: 978-0-415-46435-2 (Routledge)

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Series Details:

Critical realism is one of the most influential new developments in the philosophy of science and in the social sciences, providing a powerful alternative to positivism and post modernism. This series will explore the critical realist position in philosophy and across the social sciences.

Please visit the Centre for Critical Realism.