Performative social research

Rainer Winter

Chapter 36 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 416-428 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Performative social research is often closely linked to critical theory; then it is tied to social critique, to the struggle for social justice, and takes an explicitly ethical and political perspective. I would like to show why it is relevant to place the aesthetic dimension at the centre of qualitative research and what innovative and socially critical potential this can entail. This opens up a new field of research, which has its roots in the philosophy of Wilhelm Dilthey, the anthropology of Victor Turner, and in critical theory. The focus is on the representation of subjects’ experiences in specific spatiotemporal contexts. This should help to illustrate the different and unique ways in which the world can be experienced and critically transformed. The aim is to open up new ways of perception, interpretation, and knowledge (Gergen and Gergen, 2012: 49) and to change the world.

Keywords: Experience; Ethnography; Performance; Relational Aesthetics; Dissent; Foundations of Performative Social Research; Experience as a Starting Point (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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