THE MEANINGS OF METHODOLOGYsuch paradoxical processes, called the dialectic, is a
central task in CSS.
CSS says that our observations and experiences
with empirical reality are not pure, neutral, and un-
mediated; rather, ideas, beliefs, and interpretations
color or influence what and how we observe. Our
knowledge of empirical reality can capture the way
things really are, yet in an incomplete manner
because our experiences of it depend on ideas and
beliefs. CSS states that our experiences of empiri-
cal reality are always theory or concept dependent.
Our theories and concepts, both commonsense and
scientific, sensitize us to particular aspects of em-
pirical reality, inform what we recognize as being
relevant in it, and influence how we categorize and
divide its features. Over time, new theoretical in-
sights and concepts enable us to recognize more as-
pects in the surface, empirical reality and to improve
our understandings of the deeper levels of reality.
In sum, PSS emphasizes how external reality
operates on people whereas ISS emphasizes the
inner subjective construction of reality. CSS states
that there is a deeper reality that is prestructured,
not invented by us. It existed before we experience
or think about it and has real effects on people. At
the same time, we construct ways of seeing and
thinking that shape our experience of empirical re-
ality. Our thinking can lead to us to take actions that
will change the structures in deeper levels of real-
ity. CSS views our ability to understand reality as an
interactive process in which thoughts, experiences,
and actions interact with one another over time.
CSS notes that social change and conflict are
not always apparent or easily observable. The so-
cial world is full of illusion, myth, and distortion.
Initial observations of the world are only partial and
often misleading because the human senses are lim-
ited. The appearances in surface reality do not have
to be based on conscious deception. The immedi-
ately perceived characteristics of objects, events,
or social relations rarely reveal everything. These
illusions allow some groups in society to hold power
and exploit others. Karl Marx, German sociolo-
gist and political thinker, stated this forcefully
(Marx and Engels, 1947:39):The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the
ruling ideas;... The class which has the means of
material production at its disposal, has control at
the same time over the means of mental production,
so that... the ideas of those who lack the means of
mental production are subject to it.CSS states that although subjective meaning is
important, real, objective relations shape social re-
lations. The critical researcher probes social situa-
tions and places them in a larger historical context.
For example, an ISS researcher studies the in-
teractions of a male boss and his female secretary
and provides a rich account of their rules of behav-
ior, interpretive mechanisms, and systems of mean-
ing. By contrast, the CSS researcher begins with a
point of view (e.g., feminist) and notes issues that
an interpretive description ignores: Why are bosses
male and secretaries female? Why do the roles of
boss and secretary have unequal power? Why do
large organizations create such roles throughout so-
ciety? How did the unequal power come about his-
torically, and were secretaries always female? Why
can the boss make off-color jokes that humiliate the
secretary? How are the roles of boss and secretary
in conflict based on the everyday conditions faced
by the boss (large salary, country club membership,
new car, large home, retirement plan, stock invest-
ments, etc.) and those of the secretary (low hourly
pay, children to care for, concerns about how to pay
bills, television as her only recreation, etc.)? Can
the secretary join with others to challenge the power
of her boss and similar bosses?3.What is the basic nature of human beings?
PSS sees humans as mammals and focuses on
their behavior as rationally acting individuals. ISS
sees humans as fundamentally social beings defined
by their capacity to create and sustain social mean-
ings. CSS recognizes that people are rational deci-
sion makers who are shaped by social structures
and creative beings who construct meaning and
social structures. Society exists prior to and apart
from people, yet it can exist only with their activeDialectic A change process emphasized in critical so-
cial science in which social relationships contain irre-
solvable inner contradictions; over time they will trigger
a dramatic upset and a total restructuring of the
relationship.