In discussions with an academic colleague whom I have e mailed the same question to I am writing a paper on the application of critical realism and poststructuralism, specifically Derrida's concept of deconstruction and Roy Bhaskar's ontological domains of the empirical, the actual, and the real to my Ph.D. topic which relates to the conscious apprehension of fantasy and the role it plays in female viewers' encounters with fictional media characters within the context of the post-network television show, Riverdale. Part of the assessment is to discuss the ontological and/or epistemological components of both theories. Ontologically, poststructuralism is related to idealism and critical realism is related to realism. In discussions, critical realism and poststructuralism were said to have the same epistemologies, that of social constructivism.

Based on my reading around the topic I am confused by how critical realism’s epistemology is social constructivism as O’Mahoney and Vincent (2014) write that ‘entities provide critical realists with a more sophisticated and nuanced representation of social reality which is in stark contrast to flatter empiricist or constructionist approaches.’

Another book chapter I found states that critical realists believe that social constructionism is too superficial, unrealistic and anthropocentric.

They appear to be positioning critical realism in contrast to social constructivism –

QUESTION: Can anyone explain how this makes the epistemology of critical realism social constructivist based on this evidence? If it is not social constructivism/constructionism what is it?

Many thanks,

Nick