Toward “Epistemic Reflexivity” in Educational Research: A Response to Scientific Research in Education

In this response to Scientific Research in Education (National Research Council, 2002), I argue that the report has provided us with a carefully considered but partial vision of social science that limits the capacity of our field to engage in critical self-reflection. As one counterexample to the vision of social science portrayed in the report, I draw on the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu's work not only offers an alternative vision of social science, but it also treats academic fields, including social sciences, as objects of study, illuminating the social forces that shape categories of thought and action. As such, it invites a rigorous form of self-reflection that is not promoted within SRE's vision of social science.