Is social research political? Should it be political? What are the implications of the politicisation 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, anti-racist 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 constitutive principle of social research, and makes a reassessment of the role of research in modern societies. "The Politics of Social Research" will be of interest both to scholars engaged in research across the range of social science disciplines, theoretical and applied, and to students on advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.
Martyn Hammersley is an emeritus professor of educational and social research at The Open University, UK. He has carried out research in the sociology of education and the sociology of the media. However, much of his work has been concerned with the methodological issues surrounding social enquiry. He has written several books including (with Paul Atkinson) Ethnography: Principles in Practice (fourth edition, Routledge, 2019), The Dilemma of Qualitative Method (Routledge, 1989), The Politics of Social Research (SAGE, 1995), Reading Ethnographic Research (second edition, Longman, 1997), Taking Sides in Social Research (Routledge, 2000), Educational Research, Policymaking and Practice, (London, Paul Chapman/SAGE, 2002), Questioning Qualitative Inquiry (SAGE, 2008), Methodology Who Needs It? (SAGE, 2011), The Myth of Research-Based Policy and Practice (SAGE, 2013), The Limits of Social Science (SAGE, 2014), and The Concept of Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Website: http://martynhammersley.wordpress.com/
Introduction Paradigm Lost? Positivism and its Afterlife in the Philosophy of Social Research A Critique of `Critical' Research On Feminist Methodology Research and `Anti-Racism' A Critical Case Writing Wrong An Assessment of Textual Radicalism Is Social Research Political? Social Research, Policy-Making and Practice Reflections on the Enlightenment Paradigm The Liberal University and its Critics
`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' - British Journal of Educational Psychology `All in all Hammersley has produced a text which provides us with much to think about. As I have said, certain chapters will, no doubt, attract considerable debate. Almost all of the chapters could stand alone but the broad political theme used to bring chapters and topics together works well almost always' - Local Government Studies `Not only is Hammersley a leading exponent of sociological research, he is also a key writer and thinker on the problems of undertaking research. This collection, some of which has been published elsewhere and some not, therefore is a welcome addition to the literature on social research... interesting and well-argued' - Disability and Society
