Critical Realism for Marxist Critical Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Critique of the Critical

Abstract

In order to feasibly transgress it, Marxist critiques of neoliberalism must explain capitalist reality, rather than merely describe it, and to do this it must identify the mechanisms that produce and reproduce the status quo. This is an ontological statement inspired by critical realism. One possible reason that Marxist politics has failed to obtain dominance, despite multiple recent opportunities, is that its address of reality is not adequately deep, in other words epistemology (knowledge) negates ontology (reality). Maisuria will highlight some basics of critical realism to posit critical realism as a useful, but not essential, meta-theory to aid Marxism to explicate ontology.

Author

• Alpesh Maisuria, University of the West of England