Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Critical social theory'
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Pleasants, Nigel John. "A Wittgensteinian critique of critical social theory." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.627272.
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Foster, Roger Stephen. "Domination and disintegration: Adorno and critical social theory." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8569.
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The central claim of my thesis is that Theodor Adorno's social theory harbours important insights which can bring to light significant deficiencies and weaknesses in the works of contemporary critical theorists. In order to substantiate this claim, I argue that Adorno's philosophical and sociological writings embody a coherent and systematic version of critical social theory. I then attempt to place Adorno's version of critical social theory in critical and constructive dialogue with the successors to the tradition of Frankfurt School critical theory (Jurgen Habermas and Axel Honneth). This is achieved by reconstructing and reinterpreting Adorno's key theses through insights developed in contemporary social theory. Part One demonstrates, firstly, how Adorno's critical social theory developed from out of the problems of the earlier social-theoretic 'paradigms'. In chapter two, I argue that Adorno, in Negative Dialectics, develops a conception of critical theory as a 'critical dialectic of concepts', derived from a synthesis of the Durkheimian sociology of knowledge, and Hegelian dialectic. Chapter three attempts to substantiate and develop this thesis, and also shows how Adorno develops a theory of linguistic reification. In chapter four, I attempt to expound the social theory underlying the philosophical arguments of Negative Dialectics. In Part Two, I deploy the insights derived from the analysis of Adorno's work in order to furnish a critique of Habermas's critical theory, concerned with its failure to develop an adequate critique of class- and group-specific domination (chapter five) and problems stemming from its formal/abstract conception of moral-practical reason (chapter six). I then turn, in Part Three, to the critical theory of recognition. It is argued that, by returning the concept of social struggle to the centre of the analysis, the theory of recognition is able to theorize structures of domination and oppositional praxis far more adequately than the Habermasian account. However, I argue that this theory needs to integrate insights deriving from Adorno's thesis of integration through domination. I argue that the concept of symbolic power provides for a plausible reconstruction of Adorno's integration thesis, by interpreting integration through domination as occurring at the symbolic rather than the psychic level. In the final chapter, I draw upon contemporary social theory in order to furnish an interpretation of Adorno's social theory as articulating a twofold distortion of instrumental reason, which I characterize as a dialectic of increasing integration through domination, and intensifying lifeworld disintegration.
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Granter, Edward. "Critical social theory and the end of work." Thesis, University of Salford, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.493516.
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This PhD research examines the development and sociological significance of the idea that work is being eliminated through the use of automated production technology. After examining historically, culturally and theoretically contested definitions of the concept of work, it looks at the idea of the abolition of work in Utopian writing, from More to Morris. Next, the argument that Karl Marx, perhaps surprisingly, can be seen as the quintessential end of work theorist, is presented.
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Rodriguez, Lopez Juan-Pablo. "The possibility of social critique : between critical social theory and social movements." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/2d7edd90-e0d7-498b-bf1a-6fc0d727b5a8.
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The global wave of mobilisations that took place after the 2008 financial crisis prompted social movement scholars and radical thinkers to highlight the ability of social actors to resist capitalism and develop new forms of radical democracy. This initial moment of 'effervescence' has been followed by a longer period of balance and critical evaluation. In this context, critical theorists have welcomed the renewal of social critique after a long period of withdrawal and the enunciation of a post-critical era. However, this renewal has taken place at the expense of critical theory's social significance. In this work, I propose a productive cross-fertilisation of the various realms in which the social critique of capitalism has (separately) taken place: critical social theory and practices of social criticism carried out by social movements. Drawing on Fredric Jameson's notion of an 'aesthetic of cognitive mapping' and on Luc Boltanski's critical sociology, the thesis argues that the affinities between the two forms of critique provide a basis upon which a politically and theoretically productive articulation might be built. In the first part, I explore four different styles of theoretical critique - from David Harvey to Luc Boltanski - highlighting their merits and limitations. In the second part, I delve into the practices of criticism of capitalist society carried out by two Chilean social movements: the pobladores' movement and the student movement, respectively, in order to explore how social critique is performed in the context of concrete social struggles. Pobladores and students have been resisting, mapping, and contesting neoliberal policies in Chile since the beginning of the 2000s, actualising old practices of resistance in a new and fragmented social context. By disclosing the affinities between the practices of social critique at both levels, I contend that critical theorists can learn from social movements' descriptions and explanations, and thus rehabilitate its political emancipatory dimension.
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Parton, Nigel. "Social work, child protection and social theory : a critical review and analysis." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2000. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4879/.
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This PhD by publication consists of two single authored books, five single authored papers in refereed journals, five single authored papers and one joint authored paper in edited books and covers the period 1985-2000. Two central ongoing themes are identified in the work: (1) the analysis of changing policy and practice in relation to child abuse in the UK from the late 1960's onwards; and (2), the changing nature of social work, again mainly in the UK. The themes are overlapping and in relation to both a number of concepts and debates in social theory are drawn upon both to analyse the changes and to make a positive contribution to policy and practice, particularly in the area of child welfare social work.
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Akdenizli, Dilek. "Critical Theory, Deliberative Democracy And International Relations Theory." Master's thesis, METU, 2005. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12606881/index.pdf.
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In the 20th century, Critical Theory has been very influential on every discipline of social sciences including international relations. According to Critical IR Theory, traditional theories are problem solving and try to explain repetition and recurrence, rather than changehowever, the main subject matter of an IR theory should be the change itself. The idea of change is also constitutive of Habermasian political thought. Jü
rgen Habermas, as a critical theorist, has developed the model of Deliberative Democracy to provoke a change in the political life of the Western countries towards a more ethical politics. According to Habermas, such a change will eliminate the legitimacy crisis occurred in Western democracies. Therefore, Habermas aims at strengthening the moral basis of democratic understanding in order to make masses participate actively in decision making processes. According to him, rational consensus must be at the centre of democracy, and it can be reached, only if every part of the deliberation has the opportunity to express their arguments equally. Once the idea of rational consensus becomes a regulative rule of democracy, it is possible to change the nature of politics, including international politics
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Hicks, Martin Cyr. "The politics of resistance, an approach to post-colonial cultural and critical theory." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0015/MQ46754.pdf.
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Higgins, Matthew. "Moral engagement : critical theory, ethics and marketing." Thesis, Keele University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.368979.
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Kovacevic, Filip. "Liberating Oedipus? : psychoanalysis as critical theory /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3074417.
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Korner, Barbara Josefine. "Critical passion : a feminist theory of non-violence and social change." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.364364.
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Lindberg, Helen. "Only Women Bleed? : A Critical Reassessment of Comprehensive Feminist Social Theory /." Örebro : Örebro University Press, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-6051.
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Evans, David J. "The political and social theory of 'flexible specialization' : a critical analysis." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1995. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/109196/.
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This thesis examines the contribution to social and political theory of the flexible specialization research programme (henceforth FSRP). It explores systematically the sociological and political underpinnings of this research programme, with a view to critically explicating its understanding of industrialisation and industrial transformations in the contemporary world. While examining the unity in diversity of the various researchers working with the FSRP it also contrasts the FSRP with other cognate research programmes (regulatory theory, post-Fordism, flexible accumulation, etc). The thesis explores further the FSRP and its relationship with political transformations, defined in the broadest sense to include meta-theoretical reflections on meaning of the political in the FSRP, the transformation in industrial relations, the trend toward economic and social dualism, polarisation, marginalisation and segmentation and the meaning of locality, industrial districts and regionalism in the FSRP. The thesis is sympathetic to the FSRP and views it as a progressively developing one (in both a political and epistemological sense) but is nevertheless critical of some of its foundational assumptions and policy prescriptions As a research programme that is still developing in a cumulative direction this thesis can only claim to be provisional in its problématisations.
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Masquelier, Charles. "Labour, knowledge and communication : rethinking the practical content of critical social theory." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2011. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/7343/.
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In response to the reification of social reality caused, according to the first generation of the Frankfurt School, by the instrumental mastery of nature, Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse have elaborated a critique of instrumental reason aimed at providing the theoretical tools for a treatment of the social realm as a field of human practice. Concerned with the risks of reproducing the relationship between humanity and nature hindering human emancipation, they have nevertheless sought to limit the task of critical theory to a theoretical form of resistance, thereby divorcing social theory from the practical orientations found in Marx‟s critique of political economy. It was not until the works of second-generation critical theorist Jürgen Habermas, that one could find a renewed attempt to link theory with the objective conditions of existence thought to be required for human emancipation. With these theoretical developments, however, social theory was effectively stripped of its critique of technology, and became primarily concerned with the problem of human emancipation as a matter strictly regarding intersubjective relations. The present work proposes that the formulation of a social critique oriented towards the institutionalisation of emancipatory practice cannot presuppose or apologise for the instrumental mastery of external nature. It shall be argued that in order to achieve such a task, the critique of instrumental reason elaborated by the first generation of Frankfurt School theorists must be complemented and completed with the broad outline of an institutional framework capable of indicating the conditions of existence required for the actualisation of human emancipation as the labour-mediated reconciliation of humanity with both internal and external nature, and for which the works of G.D.H. Cole provide a potential basis for rethinking critical theory and updating libertarian socialism.
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Dwight, James Scutt III. "Hyperpedagogy: Intersections among poststructuralist hypertext theory, critical inquiry, and social justice pedagogies." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/11132.
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Hyperpedagogy seeks to actualize social justice pedagogies and poststructuralist theorizing in digitally enhanced and online learning environments. Hyperpedagogy offers ways to incorporate transactional pedagogies into digital curricula so that learners throughout the United States' pluralistic culture can participate in e-learning. Much of the hyperbole promoting e-learning is founded on social-efficiency pedagogies (i.e. preparing tomorrow's workers for the information-based, new global economy) that tend to homogenize culturally pluralistic learners. The premium placed on a strict adherence to rigid learning systems inculcated within standards-based reform movements typically, moreover, discriminate against historically marginalized learners. Hyperpedagogy seeks to elucidate the closeting of privilege in e-learning so that learners of color, female learners, and homosexual learners can be better represented in the literature than is currently practiced.Ph. D.
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Phillips, Amanda. "A Qualitative Exploration of Critical Approaches to Social Justice in Student Affairs." OpenSIUC, 2014. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/964.
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In this study, I explored critical approaches to social justice in student affairs. I sought to understand how student affairs administrators understand and communicate about social justice. Furthermore, I studied how a critical paradigm informs the work of student affairs practitioners in their everyday lives, and what we might learn from the experiences of professionals who ground their work in such paradigms. This was a qualitative study, in which I used snowball sampling as the method for recruiting participants. I conducted semi structured interviews with 14 full time student affairs administrators, who I refer to as critically-oriented student affairs administrators. Consistent with critical theory, I employ a language of critique and a language of possibility in this dissertation. The findings in this study suggest that there is much work to be done in more productively addressing social justice in student affairs. The lived experiences the participants in this study shared provide insight into living out critical commitments to social justice in the student affairs field. Furthermore, there is space in the student affairs field for more in-depth analysis and consideration for what it means to be "critical" in the student affairs profession.
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Donovan, Mary. "Critical social theory and psychotherapy : an analysis of the moral ethos of contemporary psychotherapeutic theory and practice." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2011. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/6955/.
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This study explores the moral ethos of contemporary psychotherapy as represented in the psychoanalytic and systemic therapeutic traditions. It examines current moral/ethical debate in the field and presents a detailed critique of the individualistic normative orientation of this debate; its peripheral status within the discourse of psychotherapy; its restrictive focus on professional micro ethics; and the eschewing of engagement with wider macro level moral themes and concerns. The disjuncture between this individualistic moral ethos and the vigorously relational thrust of wider developments in psychotherapeutic theory and technique is highlighted. An argument is made for the reformulation of moral/ethical debate in terms that take account of these relational developments, which might in turn serve as a catalyst for the realization of what is arguably their progressive and democratizing potential. The failure of hermeneutical, post-structuralist and postmodernist influences in recent decades to move this debate forward and the entrenched modernist/postmodernist divide within psychotherapeutic discourse are also explored. Underlying the limitations of current moral/ethical debate is the restricted paradigm of individual consciousness within which this debate unfolds and which it appears unable to transcend. In this study the critical social theory of J!rgen Habermas serves as a touchstone for exploring potential for movement from the paradigm of consciousness to that of communication as a framework for moral/ethical deliberation. It is argued that key trends within psychotherapy are already straining towards a communicative ethical orientation which is implicit in current practice and that the theoretical vacuum around this subject is impeding recognition of its full potential. Alongside Habermasian theory, Axel Honneth's theory of recognition and Anthony Giddens's social theoretical perspective on psychotherapy offer key points of reference for the dialogue between critical social theory and psychotherapy which this study seeks to promote. Drawing on the work of Habermas and Honneth, it is argued that the underlying moral “grammar” of the psychotherapeutic encounter may be framed in terms of the struggle for understanding and agreement and the struggle for recognition. The theme of reflexivity emerges as an important organizing framework for this discussion and as a bridge for dialogue between psychotherapy and social theory. It is proposed that we can helpfully think of significant discursive moments in the therapeutic encounter as islands of heightened reflexivity in which the full communicative power of language is potentially unleashed. The study concludes with a view of psychotherapy as a reflexive resource and potential carrier of communicative reason helping people to develop and enhance cognitive and emotional capacities that may in turn help them participate in spheres of discursive communication and move towards genuinely communicative use of language.
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Kingston, Stephen. "Dilemmas of British and Italian feminist movements and critical social theory : reflexive critiques." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.396820.
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In this thesis critical social theory is used to assess the historical status of modern feminist movements, the experience of which is used in turn to assess the usefulness of certain key concepts from critical social theory. In particular Habermas' concept of the ideal speech situation is used to determine how far feminist movements fall into the tradition of earlier uni versalising social movements. This concept is used both to analyse the forms of the movements (their structures and practices) and their substantive activity in the area of political demands. The ideal speech situation indicates that feminist movements were in a state of permanent tension between competing commitments, especially universalist and particularist imperatives. This dual logic can be seen in the pursuit of a renegotiation of the publicI private divide. It can also be seen in the debates among feminists in the educational context. In conclusion, it is suggested that feminist movements were both dependent on and undermined by the tension between universalism and particularism. However, the problems raised by these movements give indications that the ideal speech situation may prove inadequate as a normative guide, particularly owing to the problems relating to fertility explored by feminism.
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Elliott, Anthony. "Modern social theory and psychoanalysis : critical perspectives on self-identity and the unconscious." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1990. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272729.
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Kwong, Siu-po Eve. "The use of variation theory in developing students' critical thinking skills." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B3554207X.
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Hall, Tim. "The philosophy of Praxis : a re-evaluation of Georg Lukacs' History and class consciousness." Thesis, University of Essex, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390992.
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Foot, Thomas Frederick. "Towards a new phenomenology of communication : image, communication and the privatisation of meaning in postmodernity." Thesis, University of East London, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.359990.
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Sanders, Bryan Philip. "Toward a Unified Computer Learning Theory: Critical Techno Constructivism." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2019. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/901.
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Why did we ever purchase computers and place them along the wall or in the corner of a classroom? Why did we ever ask students to work individually at a computer? Why did we ever dictate that students should play computer games or answer questions built from a narrow data set? And why are we still doing this with computers in classrooms today?
This approach has contributed to a systemic problem of low student engagement in course materials and little inclusion of student voice, particularly for traditionally underrepresented students. New transformational tools and pedagogies are needed to nurture students in developing their own ways of thinking, posing problems, collaborating, and solving problems. Of interest, then, is the predominance in today’s classrooms of programmed learning and teaching machines that we dub 21st century learning. We have not yet fully harnessed the transformational power and potential of the technology that schools already possess and that many students are bringing on their own.
This dissertation aims to address what is missing in best practices of technology in the classroom. Herein these pages will be performed a document analysis of cornerstone books written by John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Seymour Papert. This analysis will be in the form of annotations comprised of the author’s experience as an experienced educator and researcher, and founded in the extant relevant theories of critical theory, technology, and constructivism. The three philosophers were selected for their contributions to constructivism and their urgings to liberate the student from an oppressive system. With a different approach to educational technology, students could be working towards something greater than themselves or the coursework, something with a passionate purpose derived from student inquiry. Instead of working at the computer and having a “one and done” experience, students could be actively transforming their studies and their world. And instead of reifying existing social and racial inequities outside of the classroom through the large computer purchases and the dominant culture attitudes and beliefs found in many software products and databases, we could be examining our practices and programs with a critical lens that allows us to question and seek more inclusive community strategies.
The final chapter is about asking for, pushing for, and dreaming for new kinds of schools, classrooms, software, hardware, and new ways to think about and create new opportunities for students. Mixed reality, sometimes called augmented reality, is likely the anticipated future of computers in the classroom.
We need to, very deeply and purposefully, mix up electronics with people. We are in a new era with new understandings of old issues showing up in old problems. A unified learning theory for computers, computing, and digital learning environments could help to redefine classroom spaces and class time, as well as graduation outcomes. The revolution will indeed be live on the Internet, but it will also be remixed and recreated by students organically and authentically pursuing their own truth.
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Spash, Clive L. "Policy analysis: Empiricism, social construction and realism." Österreichische Gesellschaft für Politikwissenschaft (ÖGPW), 2014. http://epub.wu.ac.at/5783/1/Spash_2014_OZP_Policy%2Danalysis.pdf.
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In a recent article Ulrich Brand has discussed how best to perform policy analysis. I reflect upon the paper as an interdisciplinary researcher experienced in public policy problems and their analysis with a particular interest in the relationship between social, economic and environmental problems. At the centre of the paper is the contrast between two existing methodologies prevalent in political science and related disciplines. One is the rationalist approach, which takes on the character of a natural science, that believes in a fully knowable objective reality which can be observed by an independent investigator. The other is a strong social constructivist position called interpretative policy analysis (IPA), where knowledge and meaning become so intertwined as to make independence of the observer from the observed impossible and all knowledge highly subjective. Brand then offers his model as a way forward, but one that he closely associates with the latter. My contention is that policy analysis, and any way forward, needs to provide more of a transformative combination of elements from both approaches. Indeed I believe this is actually what Brand is doing.
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Hollingsworth, Teri Ann. "Associating democratic methods in correctional education and postmodern critical theory." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2000. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1615.
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Burke, Benjamin M., Davina Quichocho, and Mallory Lucier-Greer. "From Theory to Practice: A Theory-Informed, Critical Review of Research on Military Marriages." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/secfr-conf/2018/schedule/18.
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Military marriages may be particularly vulnerable to marital distress and dissolution due to the unique challenges associated with military service. To better understand the research regarding military marriages, a critical literature review was conducted. Fifteen peer-reviewed, published articles were critically reviewed based on their theoretical applications and empirical findings. Articles were categorized according to stage in marriage and primary theoretical orientation. Results suggest that military marriages are at risk due to military factors, but they are also mostly stable. Results also indicate that theories are rarely made explicit in military marriage literature. Future research would benefit from providing clearer links from theory to hypothesis testing. Finally, empirical findings are translated into practical implications at the macro-level and micro-levels of intervention.
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Jones, Heather Sadler. "I Demand. . . Sorry, I Apologize: Power, Collaboration, and Technology in the Social Construction of Leadership across Diversity." Scholar Commons, 2014. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5517.
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This transformative case study used qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the social construction of collaborative and technology leadership among students in a graduate-level course on curriculum leadership. Analysis of interactions among students during an asynchronous computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) project using critical discourse analysis was completed. Student dialogue was analyzed for how students across different social groups interacted discursively to promote and inhibit the development of leadership in the domains of collaboration and technology, while socially constructing the knowledge context for learning about the societal curriculum for diverse social groups. Findings were that women more than men were verbose and promotive, and that much of their power/language exchanges involved mutual understanding. Black students were underrepresented in the graduate course, but gained power through language and course design. Latino students lacked self-advocacy and emphasized cultural diversity in their use of power/language. An interview with the professor provides insight into the structures that frame student's experiences. These findings are discussed through a three-tiered Critical Discourse Analysis Framework and recommendations are made for educators, leaders and education leadership preparation programs that use on-line learning platforms that support collaborative learning experiences.
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O'Malley, Lisa. "Relationship marketing in mass consumer markets : a critical review." Thesis, Nottingham Trent University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.341261.
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Frayne, David. "Critical social theory and the will to happiness : a study of anti-work subjectivities." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2011. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/18497/.
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It can be argued that we live in a ‘work-centred’ society, since not only has society witnessed a massive quantitative expansion of paid-work, but many also accept that, at this present historical moment, the tasks, relationships and time-structures of work occupy a central place in people’s sense of well-being. Critical social theorists have advanced an alternative perspective and undertaken a critique of work, responding to the interlinked social problems of mass unemployment, inequality, environmental degradation, and low well-being, by promoting an anti-productivist politics which calls for a decentralisation of work in everyday life. Theorists such as André Gorz have suggested that such proposals resonate with a cultural disenchantment with work, as well as growing desire for non-material goods such as autonomy, free-time, good-health and conviviality. Such claims, however, have rarely been explored on an empirical level. One of the central questions that remain unanswered is whether and how it is actually possible for people to live with significantly lower levels of work. In response to this gap in the literature, the present study undertakes a qualitative investigation into the lives of a diverse sample of people, each of whom has chosen to work less or to give up working altogether. In-depth interviews explore the work experiences and moral priorities that informed the participant’s lifestyle changes. Also explores are the trials of working less, including how participants coped with less money, and how they coped with the stigmas attached to working less, in the midst of a society that continues to attach moral significance to having a job. Are the participants deviants, malingerers, and failures, or might society learn something positive and inspiring from their actions and choices?
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Goenaga, Orrego Agustín Alonso. "The virtuous circle of discourse : why Habermasian critical theory is blind to social traps." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/13025.
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This paper raises a critique concerning the limitations that Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action (TCA) faces to engage with topics such as social traps. The main argument is that the developmentalist explanation of ego ontogenesis that supports the possibility of the “discourse principle” reduces the TCA’s effectiveness to explain social transformation in less-than-ideal situations. The paper introduces the concept of social traps through Rothstein’s account of the recursive dynamics between individual agents and social structures in non-cooperative scenarios, and follows his criticisms of rationalist and culturalist approaches. The same problems that these strands of the literature suffer are present, although for different reasons, in the TCA: wrong assumptions about human action, deterministic views of social reality, and a narrow understanding of social transformation. Along these lines, the paper explores the implications that the Habermasian notion of praxis as discursive competences and autonomy has for a wider conception of agency in cases where discourse is inhibited or disrupted. Moreover, this becomes a real problem due to the circular relationship between, on the one hand, the development of the cognitive and moral competences necessary to participate in discursive practices and, on the other, how these practices foster the very same competences that they require to prevail (“the virtuous circle of discourse”). The combination of these elements raises a number of challenges for the TCA to provide convincing explanations about the way in which social traps operate and, especially, how social transformation can be generated in those situations from the micro-level. Finally, the author concludes with some suggestions to be considered in the development of a critical methodology to observe social traps.
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Michell, Theodore William Henry. "The psychasthenia of deep space : evaluating the 'reassertion of space in critical social theory'." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2002. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/4325/.
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The aim of this work is to question the notion of space that underlies the claimed ‘spatial turn’ in geographical and social theory. Section 1 examines this theoretical literature, drawing heavily on Soja as the self declared taxonomist of the genre, and also seeks parallels with more populist texts on cities and space, to suggest, following Williams, that there is a new ‘structure of feeling’ towards space. Section 1 introduces two foundational concepts. The first, derived from Soja’s misunderstanding of Borges’ story The Aleph, argues for an ‘alephic vision’, an imposition of a de-materialized and revelatory understanding of space. This is related to the second, an ‘ecstatic vision’, which describes the tendency, illustrated through the work of Koolhaas and recent exhibitions on the experience of cities, to treat spatial and material experience in hyperbolic and hallucinatory terms. Section 2 offers a series of theoretical reconstructions which seek to draw out parallels between the work of key theorists of what I term the ‘respatialization’ literature (Harvey, Giddens, Foucault and Lefebvre) and the work of Hillier et al in the Space Syntax school. A series of empirical studies demonstrate that the approach to the material realm offered by Space Syntax is not only theoretically compatible but can also help to explain ‘real world’ phenomena. However, the elision with wider theoretical positions points to the need for a reworking of elements of Space Syntax, and steps towards this goal are offered in section 3. In the final ‘speculative epilogue’ I reopen the philosophical debates about the nature of space, deliberately suppressed from the beginning, and suggest that perhaps the apparent theoretical and empirical versatility of Space Syntax, based upon a configurational approach to space as a complex relational system, may offer an alternative approach to these enduring metaphysical debates.
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Trede, Franziska Veronika. "A Critical Practice Model For Physiotherapy." University of Sydney, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1430.
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Doctor of PhilosophyA perspective in critical social science is concerned with knowledge, power and critique. This thesis explores the question: What would physiotherapy practice look like if it were informed by critical social science? This question originated from four observations: (1) physiotherapists work with constantly changing health care demands, (2) traditional practice approaches underpinned by rational objectivity widen the gap between theory and practice, (3) professional judgments are based on more than objective, rational thinking, and (4) concluding from the first three observations clinical physiotherapists rely more and more on thinking for themselves. If physiotherapists were to adopt a critical social science perspective they would question their practice, identify taken-for-granted, unreflected assumptions and unnecessary system constraints and liberate themselves, their practice and patients, thereby enhancing both the quality of patient care and the practitioner’s professional work experience. Following the hermeneutic tradition I constructed texts from pertinent literature as well as transcripts from participants’ interviews, action plans and field notes. I developed an integrative design to interpret these texts drawing from philosophical and critical hermeneutics as well as action research. The question and answer dialogue methodology consisted of four cycles including deep, critical and transformative dimensions. These I labelled critical transformative dialogues. The first dialogue was with the critical social science literature and with the Gadamer-Habermas and Foucault- Habermas debates in particular. These debates addressed issues of rationality, knowledge and power. Further, I reviewed relevant education, nursing and health promotion literature that addressed these critical social science themes. This first dialogue crystallised my identification of key CSS dimensions relevant to physiotherapy practice. The second dialogue comprised physiotherapy literature that related to these identified critical social science dimensions, as well as transcripts from physiotherapists’ interviews. This dialogue critically interpreted current practice models in their historical, educational and practice contexts. It highlighted the finding that physiotherapy practice is currently dominated by instrumental thinking rather than critical thinking, and that there is a lack of engagement of physiotherapy practice with CSS. The third dialogue was with physiotherapists trialling CSS in practice. Physiotherapists of this trialling group designed action learning “contracts” where they set out to change their practice in the sense of adopting CSS principles and activities in their practice. I explored with these participants how CSS could work or fit in their practice and practice contexts and how this would be experienced. Through this action learning project of endeavouring to transform their practice towards a CSS model I explored participants’ capacity to learn about posing problems concerning their practice, recognise practice contradictions, experience practice challenges and recognise their motivations and interests. This exploration illuminated the viability of CSS in their practice. The fourth dialogue was with physiotherapists who operationalised CSS values or who could visualise a CSS framework for their practice whether they used this terminology or not. This dialogue brought critical understanding of the advantages and potential limitations of realising a CSS-centred physiotherapy practice. I conclude the thesis with twelve propositions arising from these four critical transformative dialogues. Based on the trialling, transforming and visioning of CSS as a model for physiotherapy practice, the relevance of these propositions for critical physiotherapy practice is asserted and implications for education and further research are discussed. The contribution that CSS can make to physiotherapy practice is to add critical transformative dialogues as a strategy to advance practice that is patient-centred and multidisciplinary in approach, inclusive of sociopolitical environments, mindful of professional power and open about professional values.
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Fook, Janis. "Developing an integrated framework for critical reflection : from practice, to theory, towards research." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2009. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/339973/.
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Critical reflection is increasingly regarded as a necessary requirement of professional practice. Yet there are many differing perspectives on what it is, and how it should be taught in professional education, and it is not easy to see how they all relate. This is often confusing for students and educators. This potentially leads to poor standards of reflection, and little rigorous research or development of critical reflection. This thesis aims to address this problem by developing an integrated understanding of critical reflection. It draws together the different perspectives on critical reflection (including reflective practice, the concept of reflexivity, postmodernism and critical perspectives), and shows how these different understandings can be integrated under the rubric of learning from experience. Although the idea of learning from experience in fact underpins early understandings of critical reflection, this thesis demonstrates how later formulations add to and develop this conception. In doing this, the thesis traces the practical and theoretical development of critical reflection into a framework which might be used as a basis for researching professional practice experience. The thesis begins with an introduction which outlines the context of my thinking about social work knowledge, in which my thinking about critical reflection is located. The body of the thesis traces how I have developed these frameworks, from a mix of practical experience, theorizing from different perspectives, and reviews of literature, into the potential for its use as a research method. The concluding section of the thesis returns to the original outline of social work knowledge, and shows how this integrated understanding of critical reflection is also congruent with basic principles of social work. In this sense, the development of thinking about critical reflection is also a contribution to the development of social work knowledge.
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Rankin, James Edwin Jr. "The conspiracy theory meme as a tool of cultural hegemony| A critical discourse analysis." Thesis, Fielding Graduate University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10260497.
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Those rejecting the official accounts of significant suspicious and impactful events are often labeled conspiracy theorists and the alternative explanations they propose are often referred to as conspiracy theories. These labels are often used to dismiss the beliefs of those individuals who question potentially hegemonic control of what people believe. The conspiracy theory concept functions as an impediment to legitimate discursive examination of conspiracy suspicions. The effect of the label appears to constrain even the most respected thinkers. This impediment is particularly problematic in academia, where thorough, objective analysis of information is critical to uncovering truth, and where members of the academy are typically considered among the most important of epistemic authorities. This dissertation tracked the development and use of such terms as pejoratives used to shut down critical thinking, analysis, and challenges to authority. This was accomplished using critical discourse analysis as a research methodology. Evidence suggesting government agents were instrumental in creating the pejorative meme conspiracy theorist was found in contemporary media. Tracing the evolution of the conspiracy theory meme and its use as a pejorative silencer may heighten awareness of its use in this manner and diminish its impact.
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Rafanell, Irene. "The sexed and gendered body as a social institution : a critical reconstruction of two social constructionist models : Bourdieu's theory of habitus and the performative theory of social institutions." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/27229.
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By highlighting the embedded forms of social life contemporary debates in Social Sciences have made it necessary to newly explore two major binary oppositions, that of nature and society and structure and individual. In the current atmosphere of tension between constructivist and materialistic positions, it is fundamental to offer detailed analysis and definition of these core issues. The aim of this thesis is to explore new understandings of social constructionist accounts by focusing on sex/gender identity and critically comparing two constructionist views: Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and its core notion of habitus, and The Performative Theory of Social Institutions, the social theory of the Strong Programme, (a sociology of scientific knowledge developed by Barnes, Bloor). The Performance Theory claims that the realm of the ‘social’ is the result of the constitutive nature of self-referential performing practices (verbal or otherwise). Its basic tenet that social life is a collective achievement, that is, the result of the continuing realignment among individuals which occurs in the interactive, and its emphasis on the performative nature of the individuals’ self-referential inductive inferences, stands in stark contrast with that of Bourdieu’s notion of the stability of the habitus as the internalization of pre-existing macro-structures. I argue that whereas Bourdieu’s novelty is that he locates social effects at the level of the body, his theory, by envisaging this socialization as a Parsonian model of early internalization resulting in permanent fixidity, suffers from a macro-structuralist bais of ‘externality’. The Performance Theory, although not specifically concerned with the body, provides an analytical framework which resolves Bourdieu’s tacit reification of the ‘social’. By introducing Kusch’s notion of Artificial Kinds, closely connected with the main tenets of the performative theory of social institution, I develop a definition of an embodied habitus as a ‘social institution’, that is, as the result of the constitutive power of the dispositions, as a self-referential collective achievement, and to achieve a more accomplished synthesis of the dualisms individual/structure and nature/society.
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Antalffy, Nikó. "Antimonies of science studies: towards a critical theory of science and technology." Australia : Macquarie University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/27367.
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Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008.Bibliography: p. 233-248.
Academic vessels: STS and HPS -- SSK : scientism as empirical relativism -- Latour and actor-network-theory -- Tensions and dilemmas in science studies -- Kuhn - paradigm of an uncritical turn -- Critical theory of technology: Andrew Feenberg -- Critical theory and science studies: Jürgen Habermas -- Concluding remarks: normativity and synthesis.
Science Studies is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship comprising two different traditions, the philosophical History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) and the sociological Science and Technology Studies (STS). The elementary tension between the two is based on their differing scholarly values, one based on philosophy, the other on sociology. This tension has been both animating the field of Science Studies and complicating its internal self-understanding. --This thesis sets out to reconstruct the main episodes in the history of Science Studies that have come to formulate competing constructions of the cultural value and meaning of science and technology. It tells a story of various failed efforts to resolve existing antimonies and suggests that the best way to grapple with the complexity of the issues at stake is to work towards establishing a common ground and dialogue between the rival disciplinary formations: HPS and STS. --First I examine two recent theories in Science Studies, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Both of them are found to be inadequate as they share a distorted view of the HPS-STS divide and both try to colonise the sociology of science with the tools of HPS. The genesis of this colonizing impulse is then traced back to the Science Wars which again is underpinned by a lack of clarity about the HPS-STS relationship. This finding further highlights the responsibility of currently fashionable theories such as ANT that have contributed to this deficit of understanding and dialogue.
This same trend is then traced to the work of Thomas Kuhn. He is credited with moderate achievements but recent re-evaluations of his work point to his culpability in closing the field to critical possibilities, stifling the sociological side and giving rise to a distorted view of the HPS-STS relationship as seen in SSK and ANT. Now that the origins of the confused and politically divided state of Science Studies is understood, there is the urgent task of re-establishing a balance and dialogue between the HPS and the STS sides. --I use two important theoretical threads in critical theory of science and technology to bring clarity to the study of these interrelated yet culturally distinct practices. Firstly I look at the solid line of research established by Andrew Feenberg in the critical theory of technology that uses social constructivism to subvert the embedded values in the technical code and hence democratize technology. --Secondly I look at the work of Jürgen Habermas's formidable Critical Theory of science that sheds light on the basic human interests inside science and technology and establishes both the limits and extent to which social constructivism can be used to study them. --Together Feenberg and Habermas show the way forward for Science Studies, a way to establish a common ground that enables close scholarly dialogue between HPS and STS yet understands and maintains the critical difference between the philosophical and the sociological approaches that prevents them from being collapsed into one indistinguishable entity. Together they can restore the HPS-STS balance and through their shared emancipatory vision for society facilitate the bringing of science and technology into a democratic societal oversight, correcting the deficits and shortcomings of recent theories in the field of Science Studies.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
vii, 248 p
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Wigginton, Sheridan L. "El negro detras de la oreja : a critical theory approach to Dominican ethnicity through textbooks /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3075413.
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Kwong, Siu-po Eve, and 鄺小寶. "The use of variation theory in developing students' critical thinking skills." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3554207X.
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Mahoney, Brigid Ann. "Jürgen Habermas and the public sphere : critical engagements /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 2001. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phm2162.pdf.
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Hoseason, Alexander. "Between philosophy and social science : the problem of harm in Critical Theory and International Studies." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/2b91f004-8eb7-4f29-b1b3-960669d29119.
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In varying ways, scholars working in the discipline of International Studies have found themselves, often implicitly, wrestling with the question of what should and should not count as harm and the implications of this for wider social life. Core to this tension is the way in which the discipline can be understood as lying between the explanatory concerns of a social science and a normative endeavour concerned with the reduction or mitigation of avoidable harm. This thesis argues that this tension results in an understanding of the problem of harm as a particular problem-field defined by a set of questions that motivate various aspects of theoretical activity. However, it attempts to address the problem of harm as a whole through the lens of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. In doing so, it aims to draw out the implications of the problem of harm for the discipline of International Studies and social science more broadly. The importance accorded to the problem of harm in Critical Theory is the source of considerable problems for an understanding of how social science might operate due to the way that normative concern serves to overwhelm attempts at explanation. This thesis considers Linklater?s sociology of harm conventions a way of rebalancing this equation such that some practical conclusions may be drawn. However, the theoretical underpinnings of this project in the process sociology of Norbert Elias serve to preclude sufficient engagement with normative questions. A reconstruction of the sociology of harm conventions through the ontology of critical realism serves to resituate the production of sociological knowledge with regard to normative concern, and re-theorise the link between them. Following this reconstruction it becomes possible, through Critical Theory, to address the kind of theory that is needed in order to interrogate the problem of harm in International Studies.
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Caviglia, Marconi Alessandro. "Social Criticism, Inmanent critique and Trascendental Critique The question of Inmanent Critique in Critical Theory." Derecho & Sociedad, 2017. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/118201.
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The present work seeks to clarify the issue of immanent criticism and transcendent criticism in the so-called Critical Theory. To this end, the different forms of social criticism are used to present clearly what the Frankfurt School calls “immanent criticism of society”, following in the footsteps of Hegel and Kant. After that, it presents the observations that Rainer Forst, reinserting a Kantian inspiration, presents a distinction between immanent criticism / transcendent criticism.El presente trabajo busca aclarar la cuestión de la crítica inmanente y la crítica trascendente en la llamada Teoría Crítica. Para ello distingue las diferentes formas de crítica social para poder presentar con claridad lo que la Escuela de Frankfurt denomina “crítica inmanente de la sociedad”, siguiendo las huellas de Hegel y Kant. Seguidamente pasa a presentar las objeciones que Rainer Forst, reinsertando una inspiración kantiana, presenta a la distinción entre crítica inmanente/crítica trascendente.
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Grice, Karly Marie. "A (Graphic) Novel Idea for Social Justice: Comics, Critical Theory, and A Contextual Graphic Narratology." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1503329869170118.
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Reckwitz, Andreas. "Die Transformation der Kulturtheorien : zur Entwicklung eines Theorieprogramms /." Weilerswist : Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2000. http://www.h-net.org/review/hrev-a0b7w9-aa.
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Rivera, Green Igor Felipe. "The emancipatory potential of a new information system and its effect on technology acceptance." Diss., Pretoria : [s.n.], 2006. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02132007-140247.
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Chervin, Michael I. "Marcuse's critical theory as related to social education : a critical examination towards the development of a philosophical foundation of social education adequate to the North American context." Thesis, McGill University, 1988. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61701.
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Hope, Daniel. "Social and Political Discourse in America: The Civil Republican Revival in American Legal Theory and the Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 1993. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1503322236098925.
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Ferns, Jan George. "Organizing nature as business : discursive struggles, the global ecological crisis, and a social-symbolic deadlock." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/25847.
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Despite looming ecological disaster, a persistent state of insufficient action seems commonplace amongst most organizations. This thesis critically explores how this impasse is constituted by discursive struggles surrounding the global ecological crisis. These struggles are situated within the context of global environmental governance – a power arena that has, over the past 25 years, become a defining battleground regarding environmental sustainability. Here, discourses of the ecological crisis are constituted by political contests amongst, most notably, multinational corporations, civil society organizations, and (trans)national policy actors. This thesis draws mainly from post-structural discourse theory, coupled with critical perspectives on organizations and the natural environment, to explore both the discursive practices that fix meanings surrounding the global ecological crisis, and the power effects thereof. The primary source of data is text – this study is explicitly interested in how discourses of the global ecological crisis evolve as the natural environment is (mis)represented in organizational disclosures. Despite recognition by management and organization scholars that the natural environment is indeed constructed, a functional separation between business and nature persists, the relationship of which is mostly examined from a firm-centric perspective. However, sustainability issues such as climate change transcend the confines of firm activity and operate across spatial and temporal dimensions. Hence, there is an urgent need to reconsider the business-nature dualism. To do so, this study adopts a multi-level, multi-method approach that permits a necessary degree of analytical and theoretical flexibility. The four individual articles that encompass this work, whilst drawing from different theoretical approaches, along with focusing on different levels of analysis, are underpinned by the contentious intersection between discourse, organizations and the natural environment. The first article concerns ‘macro talk’ and, operating on the field level, explores how a dominant understanding of business’ role in sustainable development is constituted during the UN Earth Summits in 1992, 2002, and 2012. The second article regards ‘corporate talk’ and, this time on an organizational level, examines how tensions between economic growth and environmental protection are avoided by the European oil and gas supermajors—BP, Shell and Total—through the practice of mythmaking. The third article takes a longitudinal approach and, also concerning ‘corporate talk’, examines how BP rearticulated a hegemonic discourse of fossil fuels, which, when enacted, reproduces corporate inaction on climate change. Finally, the fourth article emphasizes ‘resistance talk’, focusing on how climate activists, as part of the global fossil fuel divestment movement, engage in certain micro-level practices as they attempt to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry. In all, the findings from these articles suggest that organizations both represent nature as something to be conquered, dominated, and valued economically and as a pristine wilderness to be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations. In pursuing these two extremes concurrently, organizations self-perpetuate a social-symbolic deadlock that hinders finding sustainable ways for human systems to coexist with natural systems. This thesis contributes mainly to literature on organizations and the natural environment by illustrating how certain practices, mechanisms, and processes continuously redefine the business-nature relationship by facilitating a discursive struggle across multiple spatial and temporal dimensions. In doing so, there are implications both for policy and business organizations, which are discussed in the concluding chapter of this work.
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Charak, Gregory Scott. "Between soul and precision Ernst Mach's biological empiricism and the social democratic philosophy of science /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2007. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3274584.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007.Title from first page of PDF file (viewed October 2, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-345).
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Hasan, Md Zahid. "Social Equity and Integrity through ICT: A Critical DiscourseAnalysis of ICT Policies in Bangladesh." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-169139.
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Information Communication Technology (ICT) is in the discourse of international development,which is often considered as the key to socio- economic development in the sense that it helps tosolve social problems and increases the rate of economic growth. ICT policies are situated in thiscontext. Many international agencies advocate certain policies in order to accelerate economicgrowth and development in so-called developing countries. In 2009, Bangladesh enacted itsNational ICT Policy setting a broad vision to establish a transparent, responsive and accountablegovernment; developed skilled human resources; and to enhance social equity through anextended use of ICT. Following this vision multiple objectives have been addressed where socialequity and integrity are prioritized in the name of developing a socially equitable and integratedsociety through ICT. The research task of this work is to analyze the discourse of this strategyand to compare it to social reality. The ‘Theory of Communicative Action’ (TCA), which isbased on the four validity claims - truth, legitimacy, sincerity, and clarity - is used to demonstratehow social equity and integrity are addressed as objectives and what claims are made in theaction items with regard to these two objectives and how far such claims reflect social reality.Keywords:Information Communication Technology (ICT), National ICT Policy, Social Equity, Integrity,Communicative Action Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis, Validity Claims, ICT4D, CriticalTheory, Critical Information Systems research.
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Holtzhausen, Marlie. "A critical appraisal of the link between social justice and democracy in the political thought of Reinhold Niebuhr." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/51504.
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This study aims to examine why Niebuhr viewed democracy as a necessary and valuable instrument for the promotion of greater social justice. His democratic views flow logically from his reflections on human nature and the pursuit of greater justice within societies.
In the course of this study, Niebuhr’s theological ideas are considered as far as it provides key insights from which he extrapolates his political thinking. Niebuhr’s conception of human nature depicts humans as capable of being both caring of others but also as self-interested seeking power and glory. This also has implications for the behaviour of groups within societies. Niebuhr tries to find some political means to address especially the dangers of group interest and domination. He argues that a need for political organisation exists that provide the necessary protection against domination and exploitation of some groups over others, but also as force that promotes equilibrium of power between competing groups within society. Niebuhr thus searches for a system of government that would deal more appropriately with the problems of freedom and order within societies and found democracy as appropriate instrument.
Ultimately, Niebuhr argues that democracy is a valuable form and necessary instrument in the organisation of society because it does justice to the essentially free nature of humans, but also takes seriously the dangers of human self-interest. Democracy is also capable of absorbing and advancing many different and diverse views, as well as to readjust different claims in the promotion of the welfare of societies. He supported liberal democratic ideals but realised that the government has a vital role to play and he advocated for government involvement in the promotion of social welfare, which alludes to important social democratic principles. His view on government is always informed by his theological convictions and he thus aims to impart Christian values into the organisation of society so as to promote greater levels of justice throughout society.Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Political Sciences
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Charbonneau, Jamie. "Emotion as a Mode of Engagement: A Critical Defense of Ben-Ze’ev’s Social Theory of Emotions." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35515.
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What is an emotion, and what does an emotional reaction signify? In this thesis I critically defend Aaron Ben-Ze’ev’s theory of emotion as a mode of social engagement. Building on the idea that an emotional reaction is the opposite of indifference, emotions express one’s concerns. They are most intense with regard to the shifting dynamics of personal relationships and social status. Thus, in order to think well about social and personal issues, attention to emotional views of the world is paramount. The social concern of emotion opens what may seem private about our reactions to an interpersonal reading. Emotions are contrasted with an intellectual form of engagement, the latter being characterized by deliberative thinking, which focuses on generalities and stable patterns. Emotions, on the other hand, are more closely aligned with action tendencies and tend to disrupt detached styles of thinking by narrowing one’s focus to the emotion’s target. Because emotions express one’s concerns, Ben-Ze’ev argues that they tend to sincerely express our “profound values,” a view which I argue against. Building on Diane Meyers’s conception of the five-dimensional self, I argue that emotions are a source of deeply held convictions, but avoid conflating this with notions of sincerity. Instead, emotional concerns can be integrated into the cultivation of personal autonomy, in terms of self-definition and self-discovery. I apply this conception of emotion to the popular concept of emotional intelligence, and argue that emotional intelligence involves a capacity to handle with skill the emerging and chaotic urgency of emotional reactions.