Habermas and Social Research

One of the greatest contributors to the field of Sociology, Jürgen Habermas has had a wide-ranging and significant impact on understandings of social change and social conflict. He has inspired researchers in a range of disciplines with his multidimensional social theory, however an overview of his theory in applied settings is long overdue. This collection brings together in one convenient volume a set of researchers who place Jürgen Habermas' key concepts such as colonisation, deliberation and communication at the centre of their research methodologies. Full of insight and innovation, this book is an essential read for those who want to harness the potential of Habermas' core concepts in their own work, thereby helping to bridge the gap between theory and method in social research. Structured around three core themes, Habermas and Social Research provides a range of research case studies looking at system colonization, the politics of deliberation and communicative interactions. Issues as diverse as social movements, the digital public sphere, patient involvement, migration and preschool education, are all covered in the book, intertwined with a set of innovative approaches to theory application in social research. Designed to help researchers harness the potential of Habermas' core concepts as methodological tools, this timely volume will prove highly useful for graduate and upper level undergraduates within the fields of theory and method, research design, public policy, education policy, urban and environmental planning.

Mark Murphy is Reader in Education & Public Policy at the University of Glasgow, UK. He has a long history of writing about, and working with, Habermas' ideas, including co-editing Habermas, critical theory and education (with T. Fleming, Routledge, 2012).

Introduction: Putting Habermas to work in social research (Mark Murphy)  Section 1: Research on Colonisation  Chapter 2: Habermas in the context of social movements research: Colonisation as a living battle (Gemma Edwards)  Chapter 3: Habermas' critical theory as an alternative research paradigm: The case of Everglades environmental policy (Claire Connolly Knox)  Chapter 4: Habermas and the self-regulation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (Peter Kennedy)  Section 2: The politics of deliberation 1: Research on the public sphere  Chapter 5: Working with and thinking against Habermas (Judith Bessant)  Chapter 6: Digitizing Habermas: Digital public spheres & networked publics (Bjarki Valtysson)  Section 3: The politics of deliberation 2: Research on inclusion  Chapter 7: Parental involvement in school: Applying Habermas' theoretical framework    (Anne Dorthe Tveit)  Chapter 8:  Looking at participation through the lens of Habermas' theory: opportunities to bridge the gap between lifeworld and system? (Susan Woelders & Tineke Abma) Section 4: Communicative (inter)actions 1: School and migration studies  Chapter 9: Transnationalism as communicative action: Putting Habermas to work in migration studies (Thomas Lacroix)  Chapter 10: Young children's educational practice in preschool in relation to Habermas' philosophical perspective (Anette Emilson)  Section 5: Communicative (inter)actions 2: The planning process  Chapter 11: Bridging the theory and method nexus in planning: The potential and limits of Habermas for urban planning scholarship (Crystal Legacy and Alan March)  Chapter 12: Habermas and the role of linguistic interaction in environmental planning: An East European case study (Maie Kiisel)