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The Northern Tradition of Pragmatic Action Research

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Action Research and Critical Psychology

Part of the book series: Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences ((THHSS))

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Abstract

The Northern Tradition of Action Research unfolded its concepts of democracy and subjectivity over several decades in several research projects, first in Great Britain and later in Norway. Initially backed by a Lewinian understanding of social engineering, the researchers gradually understood that communication and exchange needed to be the basis for change in the workplace.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The socio-technical approach was also referred to as socio-technical systems (STS) (Emery, 1972), socio-technical design or socio-technical systems design (STSD) (1993). The latter was introduced by Eijnatten in his 1993 review of the literature in the field to avoid confusion with the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) (Winner, 1992). With the same goal, I will use Eijnatten’s abbreviation in the following even though STS or any of the other terms referring to the approach might appear in quotations.

  2. 2.

    A detailed account including quoted sections of the material can be found in Emery et al., 1969, Chapter 1.

  3. 3.

    Excerpts of the interviews conducted with workers’ representatives can be found in Emery et al., 1969, Chapter 2.

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  1. Social Science and Cultural Studies, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Martin Dege

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Dege, M. (2023). The Northern Tradition of Pragmatic Action Research. In: Action Research and Critical Psychology. Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31197-0_5

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