Emancipatory social science requires methods that trigger self-reflection in subjects

Evidence

If critical social science was concerned with the fact that information concerning law-like interrelations produced a process of reflection in the consciousness of those affected, then the well-established methods of social science research would have to be changed in some areas and supplemented in others. If the basing of knowledge in the social sciences on an emancipatory interest in acquiring understanding was to provide the form of objectivity specific to this type of science, then the methods of data collection must, so far as possible, aim to set in motion processes of self-reflectionas Horkheimer and Adorno had thought at the beginning of the anti-Semitism project, although they did not raise the idea to the level of a methodological principle or maintain it consistently. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2448

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what ‘emancipatory interest’ concretely requires of method: data collection aimed at setting in motion self-reflection in research subjects, distinguishing critical from conventional social science.
• XREF: Hooks into the reader’s broader Critical Theory library: this methodological demand connects to Freire’s conscientization and to participatory action research traditions descending from the Frankfurt School. — connects to: Radicalized self-reflection can reveal the hidden practical roots of pure theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2328; Self-reflection is where people both face and exonerate themselves from wrongdoing; Humanistic critique dissolves mental constraint and enables reflective understanding — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 37

Broader Connections

• Humanistic critique dissolves mental constraint and enables reflective understanding #corroborates (0.80) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 37
• Self-reflection is where people both face and exonerate themselves from wrongdoing #expands (0.75)
• Radicalized self-reflection can reveal the hidden practical roots of pure theory #expands (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2328