Operationalizing cultural political economy: towards critical grounded theory

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to take conceptual and methodological steps towards the elaboration of the critical grounded theory (CGT) method. Design/methodology/approach – Starting from conceptual issues with mapping everyday discourses and practices in their broader societal context in organisational ethnography, cultural political economy (CPE) is proposed as a suitable theoretical framework for integrating the cultural dimension of discourses and imaginaries into political-economic analyses of organisation and management. The CGT method is introduced for empirical operationalisation. Findings – Grounded theory tools for working with ethnographic data can be employed within critical approaches such as CPE although they originate from positivist social science. The need to combine ethnographic fieldwork with substantial theoretical work and/or critical discourse analysis may be met by CGT, which affords the ethnographic strengths of grounded theory without, however, bracketing the critical-theoretical insights of CPE. Research limitations/implications – The usefulness of CGT has been tentatively tested, but requires thorough meta-theoretical and methodological development, which is what is undertaken here. Social implications – CGT expects and takes account of the social implications of its employment in the field. Originality/value – First steps towards a new critical method for organisation and management studies are taken. Although originating from concern with CPE, the CGT method may appeal to a wider audience of critical scholars across the social sciences.

Paradoxes of Transnational Labour Rights Campaigns: The Case of Play Fair in Indonesia

“…Belfrage and Hauf (, ) have suggested Critical Grounded Theory (CGT) as a new method for doing CPE research. CGT combines the tools and techniques of Grounded Theory to work with qualitative data with the conceptual and theoretical tools of CPE in an ongoing, spiral movement of thought from abstract and simple to concrete and complex, constantly comparing emerging conceptualizations with existing theory.…”

“…CGT invites us to confront expectations raised by the literature with insights gained from the ‘ethnographic immersion into the field’ (Belfrage and Hauf, : 330). The following discussion of the limitations of the FoA Protocol is the result of ongoing dialogue between theoretical deskwork and empirical fieldwork.…”

The Astronautical discourse in an English primary school during the Principia ESA mission: A critical analysis

“…Before a presentation, the sides of the classroom, and the front area occupied by the teacher, which the students faced, was modified by adding to the walls a selection of planetary posters provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) at Open Days at ESTEC, and a very large poster of Tim Peake and the Principia mission, including the mission logo, which had been downloaded from the website of the United Kingdom Space Agency and the European Space Agency. 3 Up to about fifty students attended a presentation downloaded from this website. The presentation was modified as permission was given on the site to do so ("Please feel free to use and adapt the slides as you wish.…”

“…The need to exhibit transparency within the progress of this project, and its steps toward the creation of a generalizable explanatory theory [5] is acknowledged, and consequently a full account of the process of understanding has been given here. 3 http://www.principia.org.uk Accessed 25 July 2016. 4 http://www.andythomas.eu Accessed 25 July 2016.…”

“…To extract predictive meaning, capable of generalisation, requires a structured, critical analysis. Belfrage and Hauf [3] tackle this dilemma of expression by promoting "Critical Grounded Theory" (CGT) to evaluate and understand the data. In this method, a theory is developed having been grounded in an initial categorisation, refined by an iteration through the data, then returned in a process of retroduction to a further iteration of the data.…”