Abstract
The previous chapter gave a brief historical overview of the action research (AR) family and its salient features, forces and moments. AR is sometimes critiqued for its weak theoretical foundations, as practitioners may appear to be simply doing what seems to work, rather than being guided by principled theory. We address this in relation to a particular theory of action that underwrites PAtR. This is our point of departure from some other approaches, as we do not pretend research is objective or neutral. This chapter will briefly describe some of the history, philosophy and nature of the theory, critical theory (CT), that has influenced many action research methodologies generally (although at times obfuscated) and that we are foregrounding as the essential feature of PAtR. Just as all spokes in a wheel emanate from the central hub, so too all actions in PAtR emanate from critical theory.
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- 1.
Truth: There are many claims and perspectives on what constitutes truth and how it is defined. The use of truth here intends to highlight the taken-for-granted truths that Kant was attempting to critique.
- 2.
Critical theory concepts include the following: biopower, communicative action, critical race theory, cultural studies, deconstruction, dehumanisation, disciplinary institutions, discourse, enlightenment, episteme, feminism, genealogy, governmentality, heterotopia, ideology, objectification, orientalism, panopticon, parrhesia, phenomenology, power, power-knowledge, postcolonialism, postmodernism, post-structuralism, queer theory, reason, semiotics, social constructionism, state racism, structuralism, cultural industry, hermeneutics, public sphere, world-systems theory.
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lisahunter, Emerald, E., Martin, G. (2013). Theoretical Orientations: Critical Theory and Related Theories for Activism. In: Participatory Activist Research in the Globalised World. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 26. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4426-4_3
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