Defining housing reality: Ideological hegemony and power in housing research

Abstract

An understanding of the dynamics of the research process and an awareness of the power structure of research can contribute towards heightened awareness of researchers in developing new ways of thinking and breaking down hegemonic perspectives. The task of this discussion is to begin a process of internal dialogue among housing researchers based on moving towards a more explicated awareness of the implicit paradigms and opaque power structures which determine what become and what do not become accepted wisdoms.When a constructivist perspective taken from the sociology of science is applied to housing studies it is argued that dominant paradigms can be discerned. These can be understood in relation to the organisation of housing research both institutionally and in disciplinary terms, while sustenance of existing paradigms, or the development of new ones, are achieved through pervasive interpersonal micro processes.

Feminist Epistemologies and the Social Relations of Housing Provision

“…The rarity distinguishes housing studies from other, more established disciplines such as rural sociology and geography. In part, this gap may be explained by the differences in the proportion of a pragmatic rather than a conceptual orientation of the different disciplines (see, for example, Allen 2005, Kemeny 1988, Madsen & Adriansen 2004, Mäki & Oinas 2004. But the explanation is not a satisfactory one and deserves to be rectified.…”

On the Social Relations of Contract Research Production: Power, Positionality and Epistemology in Housing and Urban Research

“…I am referring here to two things; first, the contractual relations of research production that pertain between research funders and the practitioners of social research, i.e. university researchers (Imrie, 1996;Oliver, 1990) and, second, the social relations of research production that pertain between academic institutions and their own academic staff (Kemeny, 1984(Kemeny, , 1988Record, 1967).…”

Housing Policy between Science and Ideology

“…U odnosu na spomenutu podjelu, moguće je u određenoj mjeri razlikovati i orijentacije znanstvenih perspektiva u području stambenih studija, posebice sukladno njihovoj ulozi u »konstrukciji stambenih činjenica« (Kemeny, 1984(Kemeny, , 1988 i preporukama za javnopolitičko djelovanje. Prije pojave stambenih studija kao unificiranog područja s jasno ustanovljenim predmetom istraživanja tijekom sedamdesetih i osamdesetih godina 20. stoljeća, proučavanje stanovanja obilježavao je nedostatak teorijske, paradigmatske i/ili ideološke određenosti.…”