Synopses & Reviews
Is social research political? In recent years a debate has raged around the politicization of social research. One camp argues that research should be governed by the principle of value neutrality. Critical, feminist, antiracist, and postmodernist analyses have argued the opposite, that research is intrinsically political. In this stimulating and often controversial book, Martyn Hammersley weighs the arguments offered in support of these two camps. He considers the fundamental issues that the debate raises about the nature of social research, its political dimensions, and its contemporary relevance. At the same time, he provides a robust defense of value neutrality as a constitutive principle of social research and presents a reassessment of the role of research in modern societies. The Politics of Social Research will be of interest both to scholars and students engaged in research--both applied and theoretical--across the range of social science disciplines. The first chapter of this philosophical book looks at the ideas, in particular positivism, that have informed social research over the past few decades. Subsequent chapters examine critical research, feminist methodology, research and anti-racism, ' textual radicalism, the politics of social research, and the impact of social research on policy and practice, and the liberal university and its critics. References and name and subject indexes complete the volume. --Journal of Social Work Education For anyone interested in the nature of social research, who has enough grasp of the issues to access the text, this book is a must. . . . Martyn Mammersley's work helps clarify my own thinking, while confirming my belief thatconsensus about social research methodology is currently unattainable, unnecessary, and probably undesirable. --Phil Hodkinson in British Journal of Educational Psychology
Synopsis
Is social research political? Should it be political? What are the implications of the politicization of social research?
Recent years have seen a growing range of challenges to the idea that research should be governed by the principle of value neutrality. Critical, feminist, antiracist and postmodernist analyses have argued that social research is intrinsically political. In this stimulating and often controversial book, Martyn Hammersley weighs the arguments offered in support of these positions. He considers the fundamental issues that the debate raises about the nature of social research, its political dimensions and its contemporary relevance. At the same time he provides a robust defence of value neutrality as a con
Synopsis
Recent years have seen a growing range of challenges to the idea that research should be governed by the principle of value neutrality. In this stimulating and often controversial book, Martyn Hammersley weighs the arguments offered in support of these positions.