Critical Utopian Action Research: Methodological Inspiration for Democratization?

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to Critical Utopian Action Research (CUAR) as a methodology with a strong emphasis on combining critical analysis, imaginative thinking, and everyday life-based actions toward societal democratization. First, we situate CUAR in the light of current societal frameworks asking: Why the need for CUAR? We then briefly mark theoretical sources of inspiration before focusing on the Future Creating Workshop as a way to elicit what CUAR is from a methodological point of view. We exemplify how the workshop functions before we finally discuss what kind of contributions CUAR might enable in the context of local communities, workplaces, organizations, and broader societal settings.

Keywords

Critical Utopian Action Research future creating workshop democratization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bladt

Nielsen

K. A

. (2013). Free space in the processes of action research. Action Research, 11(4), 369–385.doi:10.1177/1476750313502556

Egmose

. (2015). Action research for sustainability: Social imagination between citizens and scientists. Routledge.

Freire

. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder & Herder.

Gleerup

. (2010). Kritik og forandring. En anerkendelsesteoretisk analyse af social- og sundhedsmedarbejderes identitet- og meningsdannelse i arbejdslivet (Critique and change – recognition theory as analytical framework interpreting identity work among care workers). Roskilde Universitet.

Gleerup

. (Ed.). (2015). Bladet fra munden – mod og vilje til et godt arbejdsliv (Speak up! Courage and will - towards a decent work life). Dansk Sygeplejeråd.

Gunnarsson

Hansen

H. P.

Nielsen

B. S.

Sriskandarajah

. (Eds.). (2016). Action research for Democracy: New ideas and perspectives from Scandinavia. Routledge.

Hansen

H. P.

Nielsen

B. S.

Sriskandarajah

Gunnarsson

. (Eds.). (2016). Commons, sustainability, democratization: Action research and the basic renewal of society. Routledge.

Horkheimer

. (1937). Traditionelle und kritische Theorie. In Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Heft II, 245ff. Paris. (Engl. edition: Traditional and Critical Theory, pp.188–243, 1972, New York, Continuum Press).

Horkheimer

. (1947). Eclipse of Reason. Oxford University Press.

10.

Horkheimer

Adorno

T. W

. (1944). Dialektik der Aufklärung. (Engl. edition: Dialectics of Enlightenment, 1972, New York, Herder & Herder).

11.

Husted

Tofteng

. (2006). The common third: The researchers, the participants and their common creation. In Nielsen

K. A.

Svensson

(Eds.), Action research and interactive research: Beyond practice and theory (pp. 259–276). Shaker Publishing.

12.

Jungk

Müllert

. (1981). Zukunftswerkstätten. Hoffmann & Campe (Engl. Edition: Future workshops: How to Create Desirable Futures, 1987, London, Institute for Social Invention).

13.

Lewin

G. W.

. (Ed.). (1948). Resolving social conflicts. Harper & Row.

14.

Mills

C. W

. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.

15.

Nielsen

K. A.

Nielsen

B. S

. (2007). Demokrati og naturbeskyttelse. Dannelse af borgerfællesskaber gennem social læring – med Møn som eksempel. [Democracy and Nature Protection. Community Building Through Social Learning]. København. Frydenlund.

16.

Nielsen

K. A.

Svensson

. (Eds.). (2006). Action research and interactive research: Beyond practice and theory. Shaker Publishing.

17.

Skjervheim

. (1957). Deltaker og Tilskodar. Oslo University Press. (Engl. edition: Participant and Spectator. In: Hans Skjervheim. Selected Essays, Skriftserien nr 12, pp.127–141, 1996, Bergen University).