A New Epistemic and Methodological Approach to the Study of Violence

This chapter presents a new epistemic and methodological framework for the study of violence. Arguing that both idealist (e.g. post-structural) and foundationalist (e.g. positivist) epistemologies are both inadequate, a new epistemic framework is presented which draws on updated early Frankfurt-School critical theory, post-Husserlian phenomenology, and Critical Realism. Key epistemic attitudes are discussed, such as a dialectical approach to ‘bracketing’ based in a more phenomenologically grounded concept of intersubjectivity and a resistance to ‘identity thinking’, as well as emphasis on the multidimensionality and processual nature of phenomena. Grounded in this epistemic framework, a methodological approach is outlined, which draws on aspects of ‘radical enquiry’ and Grounded Theory, and a compatible approach to causality. The data collection and analysis methods upon which this book is based are also outlined, which include a ‘naturalistic enquiry’ approach to participant observation and a multidimensional causal chain analysis.