Social Research after the Cultural Turn

Abstract

Social Research after the Cultural Turn explores the contested meanings and diverse practices of social research in the context of contemporary theoretical debates in cultural and social theory. It addresses fundamental questions facing those working in the social and human sciences today. What are the possibilities, and challenges, for social research after the 'cultural turn'? How have the epistemological and political contexts of social research changed? Can we still define a distinct sphere of 'the social' to research? What distinguishes social research from cultural studies and the humanities? What methodologies might critical social research employ, and in what registers should it operate? Social Research after the Cultural Turn brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields - including gender and feminist studies, psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis, religious studies, history, development studies, law, critical race and post-colonial studies, and sociology.