Encoouraged by the number of downloads of Critical School Geogaphy, I decided in 2024 to write an as yet untitled ebook on critical realism, the philosphy of knowledge on which the earlier book is based. I have finished drafting the six chapters and am currently editing and revising these and joining them together. Drafts are available to download here. The preface has become an introductory chapter and chapters will be renumbered as they are revised. I hope to publish the finished book here later in 2026.
Meanwhile if you find the chapters useful please tell your colleagues and networks about them. If you have comments or corrections please contact me.
Chapter Zero Introduction
Critical realism is a philosophy of knowledge that focuses on the bio-physical and social structures and processes that shape the geography of the world. The dominant social structures are those of digital capitalism and these are controlled by a powerful minority. The result is a multidimensional global crisis. Radical democracy and radical global citizenship, as proposed by the populist left, are necessary to resolve this crisis and promote universal human flourishing. Digital capitalism underpins the wealth and power of tech billionaires and their political allies on the populist right who are opposed by the populist left, a growing number of whom support digital socialism. These populisms are engaged in culture wars or a struggle for hegemony that seeks to render the knowledge of the powerful or that of the powerless, the taken-for-granted common sense of the majority. Digital media are key sites of this struggle which shapes the nature of politics, the ongoing fiscal crises of nation states, and the worldviews of older school students. The review of the national curriculum in England and the prospects for a more critical school geography should be viewed in the context of the culture wars: the rise of Reform-UK on the populist right, the Labour government’s failure to support the populist left, and the rise of the Greens as an eco-populist and socialist alternative.
Chapter One Ontology
In which we learn that there is far more to the world than that we and our students experience directly. Helping them to understand the world involves guiding them to look deeply into reality to see the mechanisms that cause events and experiences and continually shape and reshape nature, place and space. Critical realism offers a philosophy of science to guide such inquiry and integrate the natural and social sciences in ways that are illustrated by reference to the teaching of global heating.
Chapter Two Epistemology
In which we learn that critical realism combines ontological realism with epistemological relativism and provides a firm foundation for a socially critical geography curriculum that is superior to those offered by positivism and interpretivism. While social realism and its notion of powerful knowledge is a product of the knowledge turn in curriculum theory that has gained much influence, its critics employ critical realism to oppose its rejection of standpoint theory and everyday knowledge and its neglect of ethics and social justice. Their arguments support a reframing of the geography curriculum that allows students to extend and refine their knowledge as critical pedagogy prompts dialogue between everyday knowledge, academic knowledge, and the knowledges of the powerful and the powerless. The chapter concludes by assessing whether the 2025 review of the national curriculum for England is likely to support such reframing.
Critical realist’s research methodology seeks to discover the structures and mechanisms in the real domain that cause events and experiences in the actual and empirical domains. This chapter outlines the main elements of such research that finds application in curriculum development, critical pedagogy, and community development. Such application is illustrated by reference to Banfield’s model of socialist pedagogy that seeks to develop students’ standpoints in ways that foster class consciousness. The relations between class and other forms of oppression are explored through a critical realist reading of intersectionality theory before the focus turns to economic planning from below that has the potential to empower the working class. The use of ChatGPT as a teachers’ assistant reveals AI’s potential to suggest activities on co-operatives which incorporate the context + mechanism + outcome formula of critical realism. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the likely impact of AI on teacher professionalism.
Chapter four Structure and Agency
The dualism of structure and agency is like other dualisms, one that critical realism seeks to collapse. It does this by ascribing new meanings to the two concepts via models of social transformation, the agent’s position within the social system, social interaction, and the multi-scaled nature of social reality. These models are outlined before further examination of social and cultural structures leads to consideration of the role of discourse in social transformation and critical realist approaches to critical discourse analysis. Such analysis has been used to explore discourses of sustainability and the literature of sustainable global citizenship. This had led Granados-Sánchez to outline the dimensions of such citizenship and their implications for global citizenship education. The chapter concludes by revisiting Critical School Geographyand its coverage of such citizenship in the light of Mouffe’s 2022 text proposing a green democratic revolution.
Chapter Five The Philosophy of meta-Reality
Bhaskar’s later work on critical realism took a spiritual turn, focussing on the ontology of persons and suggesting that we have a ground state of unity, love and spontaneous right action that connects us to all other beings. His philosophy of meta-Reality suggests that we are currently cut off or ‘split’ from this ground state by the alienation, illusions, and disempowerment caused by current social structures. Reconnecting to our ground state and thereby realising a higher moral state of being (non-duality), is key to developing empathy and solidarity with others, the re-enchantment of the world, the realisation of radical global citizenship, and social emancipation. School geography can aid the development of non-dual beings in ways that this chapter outlines.
John Huckle - Educating for Sustainability 