Standpoint theory,realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education |
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| Authors: | Gail Edwards |
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| Institution: | School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. |
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| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the contribution of ‘social realism’ in resolving questions of knowledge and curriculum in the sociology of education. Social realists argue that, in the interests of educational equality, all pupils should have access to ‘powerful’ knowledge produced by specialist intellectual communities. Social realism relies upon a critique of standpoint theory, taking it to be irrealist, relativist and ignorant of the post-empiricist revolution in the philosophy of science. This paper argues however, that social realists fail to appreciate the critical realist response to the post-empiricist revolution and thereby end up critiquing a caricatured version of standpoint theory. The paper concludes that if we are concerned with restoring objectivity, in a manner that avoids both relativism and cultural elitism in school curricula, a turn away from standpoint theory in the sociology of education is not warranted and may be obstructive. |
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| Keywords: | standpoint ontology epistemology critical realism postmodernism social realism |
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