Great to see this special issue on norm circles in social research starting to take shape...
Posts by Critical Realism Network
Have you heard our Critical Realist podcast series? #4 is now online, with Gareth Wiltshire interviewing @anthonythorpe.bsky.social and @jpelonga.bsky.social about their new book 'Educational Leadership and Critical Realism'
Have you heard our Critical Realist podcast series? #3 is now online, with Gareth Wiltshire interviewing Karin Zotzmann about her book 'Codes of Corruption'
Have you heard our Critical Realist podcast series? #2 is now online, with Gareth Wiltshire interviewing Mark Carrigan on his new book 'Platform and Agency'
'Institutional Logics Versus Norm Circles: Alternative or Complementary Approaches to the Analysis of Institutions?' - first paper in our JTSB special issue on norm circles, by Sven Modell (open access)
Vol 25 #1 of Journal of Critical Realism is now online! Including papers by Stine Harboe, Marc Bosward, Zeynep Ceren Henriques Correia, reviews of Ash's book on ethics and Slade-Cafferel's on Cambridge social ontology, and part 2 of Jamie Morgan's interview with Ted Benton ...
"Critical realist literary geography: the case of Istanbul’s ferries as public space" an Open Access article by Zeynep Ceren Henriques Correia in the Journal of Critical Realism. Encourages alternative public transport narratives.
Marc Bosward's new paper "A deeper picture: realism, documentary and collage" in the Journal of Critical Realism proposes documentary collage film as a practice-based form of critical realist inquiry
New in Journal of Critical Realism: "Time for revival: re-conceptualising organisational culture through critical realism" by Stine Harboe. The paper proposes cultural configuration (CC) as a mediating layer between cultural systems and socio-cultural interaction
You can now see the video of @anthonythorpe.bsky.social and @jpelonga.bsky.social introducing their book and comments from @helengunter.bsky.social and Lakshman Wimalasena on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEVJ...
New in the Journal of Critical Realism: "Assisted dying or ‘if we've explained morality, what now?’, Steve Ash and making ethics matter" - Jamie Morgan's extended discussion of Ash's book 'Explaining Morality' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The full special issue of the Journal of Critical Realism on Morphogenetic Regulation is available now: www.tandfonline.com/toc/yjcr20/2...
Prof Priscilla Alderson and A level student Harry Hubbard have made a series of 4 short videos introducing Critical Realism for A level students: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The Journal of Critical Realism's special issue on "Critical Realism and Criminal Justice: A Dialectical Engagement" is out now, featuring papers by Amanda Wilson, Alan Norrie, Craig Reeves, Paula Cecilia Hollstein Barria, James Kelly White, &Henrique Carvalho/Anastasia Chamberlen: buff.ly/Y74Z9hY
'Guilt, responsibility and the tyranny of the past: Kleinian moral psychology, critical realism and criminal justice' by Craig Reeves is out now in the Journal of Critical Realism:
Lots more papers from the special issue on morphogenetic regulation now available from the Journal of Critical Realism, by Zach Sloman, Margaux Schulz, Andrew Dryhurst, Fabiola Ponte Ordorica, Yazid Zahda, and Krista Garcin: www.tandfonline.com/journals/yjc...
'The Relational Quiddity of Virtual/Digital Reality' - Pierpaolo Donati's new open access paper in the JTSB examines the ontology of digital reality
In our webinar anthonythorpe.bsky.social and jpelonga.bsky.social will talk about their recent book, 'Educational Leadership and Critical Realism' with responses from helengunter.bsky.social and Lakshman Wimalasena. February 5th, 2:30 to 4pm GMT. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...
In 'Climate Emergency and Different Ways to Fail? The Fermi Paradox, the Simulation Hypothesis, Agency and Hope', Jamie Morgan argues that we are not doomed but the climate crisis matters - and yet we are acting as though we are doomed and as if it didn't matter. What hope remains?
New in the Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour: 'Ayn Rand: Realism, Morality, Selfishness and Capitalism'. Steve Ash argues that Rand's conception of both epistemology and moral value is incompatible with the ontological realism she professes
IACR has announced the first details of the 2026 Annual Conference:
📆Pre-Conference July 27- July 29
📆Conference30 July - 1 August
📍International Institute of Social Science, Den Haag, The Netherlands (hybrid format)
More coming soon!
Juan David Parra's new paper 'Trans-immanence, morphogenesis and régulation: new methodological avenues for applied political economy (of education) research' applies the morphogenetic régulation approach to education policy: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New open access paper 'Morphogenetic Régulation: An Introduction to the Special Issue' by
Karim Knio, available now from the Journal of Critical Realism - and the other papers from the special issue are also starting to appear... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Book symposium: celebrating the 50th anniversary of Roy Bhaskar’s A Realist Theory of Science - with contributions from @daveev.bsky.social , Ruth Groff, @objectoriented.bsky.social , Jonathan Joseph & Doug Porpora. Essential reading for critical realists! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Here's a new open access paper about the social ontology of money from Jamie Morgan in the Cambridge Journal of Economics: academic.oup.com/cje/advance-...
Here's the intro to a special issue of the Journal of Critical Realism (with 5 more papers) on the relation between CR and criminal justice, by Amanda Wilson & Alan Norrie: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
It's an odd use of language, perhaps, but for Bhaskar, intransitive=stuff outside our head that's the way it is independently of what the individual concerned thinks about it; and transitive=our theories, beliefs, etc about the intransitive.
Here's a new blog post by Anthony Thorpe and Jean Pierre Elonga Mboyo about their recent book 'Educational Leadership and Critical Realism' criticalrealismnetwork.org/2025/11/05/e...
Part 2 of Jamie Morgan's interview with the early (critical) realist philosopher and eco-socialist Ted Benton is now out in the Journal of Critical Realism: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Now available! The Critical Realist thesis archive criticalrealismnetwork.org/the-critical... Just the tip of the iceberg so far, but if you have a critical realist thesis you can also submit it!