400012 SE Critique: Aim or object of social scientific theory? (2020S)

Many socials sciences define themselves as critical. In this course we ask what can is meant by such a statement? Is the claim epistemological, ontological or genealogical? Should our data feed into an inquiry of critique following the logics of justification and contestation as Boltanski once phrased it? Or is critique rather a project that takes up and enables resistance by our interlocutors? What do each of these possibilities mean for the development of theory and methodological practice? Over the term we will discuss different approaches to critique and read exemplary studies. The students should be enabled to position their own work around questions of the meaning, ethics and position of critique in the social sciences. They will present their own projects, data and interpretations developing one or the other stance.