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Critical realismEscaping the straightjacket of cognitivism. Developing a theoretical basis for planned intervention and change in social systems
Nick McDonald
Anti-realism
There are 2 main philosophical positions in social science which deny that we can have knowledge of reality
• All reality consists in conscious states– ‘phenomenalist idealism’– E.g. cognitive psychology
• Reality is socially constructed – ‘social constructionism’– Various theories from social cognition to critical theory
Organisations as mental constructions - some examples
• Organisation theory as metaphor (Morgan)– Machines– Cultures– Organisms– Domination and suppression
• Organisations as relational processes (Hosking and Morley)– Enactive, socially constructed processes– Against reification, ‘entitative’ concepts,
• Organisations as ‘sensemaking’ (Weick)
Problems of cognitive & social constructionist models
Cognition / social cognition• Focus on internal states (mental
models) or local relationships with technology (ergonomics)
• Tends to lack ecologically valid evidence of actions in context
• No independent criterion beyond intentionality– When is an action correct/
appropriate/ effective?– Takes external authority for
granted - cannot ever challenge whether a rule or procedure is adequate
Social construction• Represents ‘reality’ as
experienced by participants• Rich interpretation• No evaluation criteria
– Cannot evaluate strengths or weaknesses of social organisations
• No causal analysis– What social constraints
influence how people act?
• Cannot be used to design better social systems
A logical fallacy
Denial of reality is based on a logical fallacy:• We are only aware of reality through mental states
– Tautology
• The reality we experience is construed / constructed mentally– Restatement of tautology
• Therefore there is no reality other than our experience / mental construction– False inference
• Therefore the object of human / social science is only cognition / mental constructions– False conclusion
3 varieties of realism
• Naïve realism– Gibson’s theory of visual perception
• Speech acts and institutional facts– Searle: ‘Construction of social reality’
• Critical realism– Bhaskar: ‘Possibility of Naturalism’
Critical realism (Bhaskar)
Society
Individuals
Socialisation Reproduction / transformation
• Society socialises individuals who reproduce or transform social reality through social action
• Social systems are real, with real causes and constraints that are external to the individual
• They are created by people, unlike natural systems, but can be investigated, like natural systems
• Role of agency - intentions as causes of actions
What is a social system?
• Normative regularities of social action create social systems
• But, norm is an ambiguous concept– What should be done– What normally is done
• In social systems with important consequences – Relations of power determine what ought to be done - the official
system– The contingencies of situated action determine what is done– The regularities of situated action create the real system
• The real system is what normally actually happens
Desire, mental model,Sense-making
Culture
Near
Remote
Simple
Complex
Micro -Task/activity
Macro -Organisation /Social system
Short term
Long term
Small scale
Large scale
Intentionality Action -Movement/ change
Causality –constraint
Social system
Social institutionplus technology & environment
A social theory should explain:
Action, system, context• Actions
– Make social processes work (or not)– Are not necessarily governed by the functional logic of operations, but by
broader social processes– Can be represented in narrative accounts
• System– Aggregation of social action in regular generic pattern– Operational processes are only part of the social system– Formal system may differ radically from real system
• Context– Causal influence on action, mediated by people making sense of their
situation, understanding (imperfectly) the constraints in which they are acting and formulating intentions
– Understanding context often makes intentions transparent
Social Systems• Reality of social systems (SS)
– They have compelling force upon their members
• Our knowledge of an SS is imperfect & partial– We ‘construe’ reality rather than ‘construct’ it
• One starting point is to look at operational processes– Most work we do is based on a functional sequence linking input
to outcome
• Other social processes (not directed at the functional goal) may facilitate or inhibit operational processes– Should not assume all social processes are goal-driven (teleology)
Some core elements of social processes
• Structural characteristics of relationships– Power, affinity of interest, authority, expertise…
• Mechanisms of social interaction– Co-ordination by mutual adjustment, supervision,
standardisation of skills, output, etc.
• Capacity of individuals/ groups– Competence
• Quality of social relationships– Trust
Action
• Actions instantiate social processes– Stability of social systems is only relative– Constantly reproduced or transformed by aggregated
activity
• Causal structure of action and consequence– Intention, action, result, consequence
The logic of action (according to von Wright)
• Acts create events which bring about change in the world– Transition of one state of affairs to another– Initiating, transforming or ending a process
• 4 logical possibilities– Doing something– Undoing something– Preserving some state– Preventing some state coming about
• Forebearing to act in the above ways gives 8 possibilities of action
Context
• Structured model of context / situation?– Current social processes– Actions of others– Environment
• Physical, technology, social, organisational
– Relevant history• Self, group, organisation
Culture
• Culture and system are ‘two sides of the same coin’
• Therefore a cultural account has to mirror all the same relations as outlined above– In the domain of meanings and values– Not the domain of functions and causality
• Culture links, through sensemaking, to intentions• Cultural accounts give interpretive richness to
system descriptions
Stability and change• The social system constrains/directs action, but not absolutely - role of
agency. People act intentionally as agents.• Actions can reproduce or transform the social system• Stability and change represent the resolution of the tension between
– Real actions in time of individuals and groups of individuals • Influenced by socialisation, but directed by intentions
– Normative regularities of aggregated actions of individuals• Reproducing or transforming the social system, socialising individuals
Society
Individuals
Socialisation Reproduction / transformation
Intention and action
• Incompatible theories– (A) Intentions are causes of action (Bhaskar)– (B) Intentions are retrospective justifications of action
(Cognitive dissonance theory)
• If B is correct then the motivation of action is not comprehensible & cognition is essentially conservative (no possibility of intentional change in actions and hence of planned social change)
• It is difficult to reconstruct intentions, but it can be done through exhaustive reconstruction of the context of action
Relevance and Leverage
• Two questions about a useful theory:– Does it address the mechanisms we wish to explain (is it relevant)?– Does it enable us to change the situation in a positive way (does it give us
leverage)?
• Cognitive and social constructivist theories only address cognitive/mental mechanisms– Ignore causal mechanisms in social systems (lack relevance)– Only focus on change mechanisms involving changing mindsets (e.g.
training) - not a powerful influence if nothing else changes (limited leverage)
• If we want to change the ways which social systems function in order to improve outcomes, we need a theory which is relevant (addresses actions in social systems) and which gives leverage (identifies how to change the system to improve the outcome).
Bibliography
• Searle, J.R.(1995): The Construction of Social Reality. Allen Lane: the Penguin Press
• Von Wright, G.H. (1963): Norm and Action. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul– Chapter III Act and Ability, pp 35-55
• Bhaskar, R (1979): The Possibility of Naturalism. Brighton: Harvester
Readings
• Robson C. (2002): Real World Research (second edition). Oxford: Blackwell– Chapters 1 & 2, pp. 3-44
• Sayer, A. (2000): Realism and Social Science. London: Sage– Pp. 10-28
• Some of our own work discussed in the lecture can be seen in:– McDonald N.(2006): Organisational resilience and
industrial risk. In Resilience Engineering (Eds.: E. Hollnagel, D. Woods., N. Leveson) Aldershot:Ashgate