Chapter 12 Relational Practices of Change: Poised between Politics and Aesthetics

The S–O discourse includes themes that have been variously summarized as “objectivism” ( Hermans, Kempen & van Loon, 1992 ) and “the received view of science” (or “RVS,” see Woolgar, 1996 ). Others, speaking of competing “paradigms” in qualitative research, have referred to some of these themes as “positivist” ( Guba & Lincoln, 1994 ) — a confusing simplification for those familiar with the philosophy of inquiry. Relevant examples include narratives that, for example, distinguish between individuals and groups and more “macro” units such as organizations and society in ways that are overly suggestive of concrete, separately existing “things” with their own defining characteristics ( Hosking & Morley, 1991 ).