Method, methodology and politics
A number of authors have identified Chomsky’s work as belonging within the critical realist tradition (Wilkin 1997; Edgley 2000; Laffey 2003). In chapter five, Alison Edgley explores some of the epistemological assumptions of critical realism, in order to highlight his distinctive and nuanced appro...
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| Format: | Book Section |
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Palgrave Macmillan
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49212/ |
| _version_ | 1848797946578993152 |
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| author | Edgley, Alison |
| author2 | Edgley, Alison |
| author_facet | Edgley, Alison Edgley, Alison |
| author_sort | Edgley, Alison |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | A number of authors have identified Chomsky’s work as belonging within the critical realist tradition (Wilkin 1997; Edgley 2000; Laffey 2003). In chapter five, Alison Edgley explores some of the epistemological assumptions of critical realism, in order to highlight his distinctive and nuanced approach to social scientific study and examine the ways in which Chomsky could be said to be operationalizing this approach. She identifies three methods typically employed by Chomsky that, when employed rigorously, enable the alert social scientist to the possibility and nature of contradictions between policy rhetoric and policy outcomes. Chomsky, as is typical of a critical realist in action, seeks to identify both necessity and possibility or potential in the world by asking what things must go together, and what could happen, given the nature of those objects. His writings show how critical realist analysis can successfully be deployed across the publications, pronouncements and actions of policy-makers, academics, civil servants, journalists and opinion-formers to produce an exemplar of robust and revealing foreign policy analysis, For these reasons, it can be argued that critical realism provides a compelling philosophical underpinning for doing social science research in general, and for Chomsky’s research on American foreign policy in particular. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:57Z |
| format | Book Section |
| id | nottingham-49212 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:11:57Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-492122020-05-04T17:14:21Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49212/ Method, methodology and politics Edgley, Alison A number of authors have identified Chomsky’s work as belonging within the critical realist tradition (Wilkin 1997; Edgley 2000; Laffey 2003). In chapter five, Alison Edgley explores some of the epistemological assumptions of critical realism, in order to highlight his distinctive and nuanced approach to social scientific study and examine the ways in which Chomsky could be said to be operationalizing this approach. She identifies three methods typically employed by Chomsky that, when employed rigorously, enable the alert social scientist to the possibility and nature of contradictions between policy rhetoric and policy outcomes. Chomsky, as is typical of a critical realist in action, seeks to identify both necessity and possibility or potential in the world by asking what things must go together, and what could happen, given the nature of those objects. His writings show how critical realist analysis can successfully be deployed across the publications, pronouncements and actions of policy-makers, academics, civil servants, journalists and opinion-formers to produce an exemplar of robust and revealing foreign policy analysis, For these reasons, it can be argued that critical realism provides a compelling philosophical underpinning for doing social science research in general, and for Chomsky’s research on American foreign policy in particular. Palgrave Macmillan Edgley, Alison 2015-08-31 Book Section PeerReviewed Edgley, Alison (2015) Method, methodology and politics. In: Noam Chomsky. Critical explorations in contemporary political thought . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 99-120. ISBN 97811373210209 http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137320209 doi:10.1007/978-1-137-32021-6 doi:10.1007/978-1-137-32021-6 |
| spellingShingle | Edgley, Alison Method, methodology and politics |
| title | Method, methodology and politics |
| title_full | Method, methodology and politics |
| title_fullStr | Method, methodology and politics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Method, methodology and politics |
| title_short | Method, methodology and politics |
| title_sort | method, methodology and politics |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49212/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49212/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49212/ |