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Researching the intercultural : intersubjectivity and the problem with postpositivism
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Holliday, Adrian and MacDonald, Malcolm (2020) Researching the intercultural : intersubjectivity and the problem with postpositivism. Applied Linguistics, 41 (5). pp. 621-639. doi:10.1093/applin/amz006 ISSN 0142-6001.
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WRAP-researching-intercultural-intersubjectivity-problem-postpositivism-MacDonald-2019.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (710Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz006
Abstract
In intercultural communication studies, the positivist preoccupation with objectivist, essentialist, solid large cultures has been replaced by a postmodern recognition that the intercultural is liquid and ideologically constructed. However, a postpositivist resistance to this paradigm change, while recognizing the dangers of essentialism, continues to be objectivist and fails to address the intersubjective nature of the ideological construction of culture. This results in a soft essentialism. This methodological failure of postpositivism is driven by a neoliberal technicalized commodification of quantitative and qualitative methods that does not address the subjective implicatedness of researchers. It therefore prevents an understanding of the liquid nature of the intercultural and sustains the neo-racist implications of essentialism. An example of this is commodifying international students as culturally problematic to serve a quantifiable notion of intercultural competence. The methodological flaws of postpositivism can only be avoided by means of an approach to researching cultural groups in which large culture concepts such as nation are viewed as one of many possible, emergent, ideologically constructed variables rather than as the starting point for research.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Cross-cultural studies, Essentialism (Philosophy), Postmodernism, Ideology | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Applied Linguistics | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0142-6001 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | October 2020 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 41 | ||||||||
| Number: | 5 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 621-639 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1093/applin/amz006 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Applied Linguistics following peer review. The version of record Adrian Holliday, Malcom N MacDonald, Researching the Intercultural: Intersubjectivity and the Problem with Postpositivism, Applied Linguistics, , amz006, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz006 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amz006 | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 3 April 2019 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 6 March 2021 |
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