CRITICAL REALISM

By Mickey Skidmore, AMHSW, ACSW, FAASW

Last year I had the opportunity to teach Critical Theories for the MSWQ program at ACAP University. Amidst the waning of Strength-Based approaches, Critical Realism was featured in this course. This was a highly intellectual course rather than experientially driven, and the content was essentially new to me. 

Without going too much into the weeds, the main philosophical concepts of critical realism is that the world is a multilayered, complex, and dynamic entity that can be observed through its idea of three domains of reality: real, actual, and empirical (Brunson et al., 2023). 

The real level is the hidden one. And while we cannot necessarily see or experience the causes, it does not mean that they do not exist. The (cause) mechanisms influence the next level, which is the domain of actual events. According to critical realism philosophy, even though mechanisms influence events, they do not determine them; instead, they stand as tendencies for creating certain outcomes (Bhaskar, 1975). This means that while social structures profoundly affect individual lives, individuals are not entirely powerless in the face of these structures. Such an approach provides a hopeful and positive way of thinking, showing that anyone has the agency to change the direction of life events, but only by being aware of hidden mechanisms.

The empirical level is where the events meet the experience. At this level, we see the world through the lens of our own perception of reality, which was created as a result of causes triggering the events. Therefore, being aware of the causality mechanisms helps to change the possible outcome by creating new events and, therefore, new empirical knowledge of an individual. Those mechanisms in a social world stand as social structures that influence our positionality and experiences in society. 

My take aways from this experience is that critical realism argues that existing social structures are only tendencies but not determinations of the events (Giddens, 1984; Bhaskar, 1975). Moreover, the critical realism philosophy is more complex and nuanced and touches all aspects of human life, therefore, applicable in every level of social work practice. I also view it as a more hopeful approach as it provides a person with an agency to change events and be in control of their lives. Social mechanisms do exist and influence our lives in a certain way, but it is also our choice whether to follow those tendencies or change its direction. 

This experience also reinforced a view that has been coming more into focus for me, namely that just when you think you’ve got a professional framework that helps you make sense of the world/reality around you, critical realism will show you yet another crack or sliver in your framework, enabling even more (endless) explanations to help us explore and comprehend our experiences as we continue navigating our professional practice. One Social Work colleague (who also taught this course) referred to CR as a “life raft” that rescued her from the static understandings she previously relied upon. 

Although in my view the content of this course is a higher level topic, the strategy is to introduce critical realism early in a (SW) student’s educational experience — so as to intentionally challenge  or shake up any pre-determined frameworks, viewpoints, or understandings that might discourage them from considering alternative approaches or explanations in the formulation of their Social Work mindset underscoring their professional practice. Allowing them to settle into a static set of frameworks may not be ideal for any professional Social Worker.

Thus, it also reiterates the Social Work value of life long learning — embracing a willingness to consider new knowledge, new ways of thinking, and new ways of maintaining an empirical freshness to our Social Work practice, as we encounter the onslaught of challenges our clients share with us.

REFERENCES

Bhaskar, R. (1975). A realist theory of science. Leeds Books.

Brunson, L., Lauzier‐Jobin, F., & Olson, B. (2023).  Seven key insights from critical realism and their implications for ecological thinking and action in community psychology. Journal Community Psychology, 1-21.

Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press.

Pullman, J. (2024). Personal communication.

Pyatak, M.  (2024) T3 Case Study Assessment Submission.