Developing a theory of historically-created needs, and exploring applications to modernization and development
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Politics
Abstract
The project aims to:
1. Develop a distinctive conception of historically-created needs, focusing on calls to action (rather than on ethical demands).
2. As applied philosophy this conception of need can then be used for analysing and evaluating needs claims.
3. This new framework can then be applied to case studies relevant to modernization theory and development policy.
1. Develop a distinctive conception of historically-created needs, focusing on calls to action (rather than on ethical demands).
2. As applied philosophy this conception of need can then be used for analysing and evaluating needs claims.
3. This new framework can then be applied to case studies relevant to modernization theory and development policy.
Organisations
Publications
Boss G
(2021)
Basic human needs: abstraction, indeterminacy and the political account of need
in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000630/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1925979 | Studentship | ES/P000630/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/12/2020 | George Boss |
| Description | Central to my project is the concept of need. That concept matters: it not only possesses an intuitive moral urgency and gravity, but also plays an important role in political theory and practice. I contend, however, that despite its significance and ubiquity, political theorists have thus far failed to offer an adequate account of the concept of need. This is because most political theorists (as well as most practitioners) share the problematic belief that the moral significance of needs must be determined outside of politics. My research shows, however, that approaches of this kind are untenable, since they are both intolerably anti-political and internally incoherent (Boss, 2021). That analysis leaves us requiring a new theoretical approach to needs: one that offers a political theory of need without - crucially - doing away with the politics. This is exactly what my research offers. I do so by developing a novel approach to needs through an innovative reading of Marx, hitherto unexamined in this context. My most significant departure is the use of performativity - derived from Butler (1993, 1999), and given a Marxian spin - as an alternative approach to needs. The resulting account holds that needs arise in a pattern of social practice, viewing that term as meaningful only to the extent that it is made to make sense within those practices, and impossible to reduce to a reality notionally external to those practices. What is more, by viewing those practices as a form of politics, this approach takes needs - against the dominant orthodoxies - to be constitutively political. A notable further consequence is a change in the nature and aims of theory, reorientating the theorist from extra-political external observer to active political participant embedded in the political to-and-fro. This draws into focus the impact that theory and concepts can have - both positively and negatively - on practical politics. Exploring those impacts, I show that by attempting to 'solve' the politics of need, the predominant theoretical approaches to need constitute (paradoxically) political interventions, generating political impacts by ossifying aspects of contemporary social practices in an extra-political theoretical space, thereby hemming in the boundaries of social possibility. Challenging those approaches, I develop an alternative that uses description, critique, and re-presentation to reveal the previously obscured political processes, conflicts, and power relations surrounding needs, thereby re-opening spaces for political agency. I then apply that framework to a range of practical contexts and policy dilemmas, including: the case for Indigenous education; healthcare needs; welfare politics; and contemporary food systems. |
| Exploitation Route | My research offers, firstly, a novel critique of the current orthodoxies surrounding need, and a new framework for examining that concept based on an innovative reading of Marx. This will be of interest to several academic audiences: • Those whose work draws on the concept of need. This includes theorists exploring (amongst other topics): poverty; human rights; justice; and welfare and wellbeing. • Theorists interested in methodology in political theory. My work offers insight into a methodological debate about the relationship between political theory and political practice. • Marx scholars. My reading of Marx connects with debates in Marxology, including interpretation and philology, that will be of broader interest to Marx scholars. Beyond this, a notable innovation of my project is a revisioning of the nature and purpose of theoretical activity in which political theory (in general) and theories of need (in particular) are understood as political interventions with tangible societal impacts. Consequently, the new methodological framework I develop has a significant implications for many areas of policy and political practice in which needs play a major role. These include, but are not limited to: • Climate policy and politics. Scholars have attempted to address the response to the climate crisis through the framework of need: the seminal Brundtland Commission definition of sustainable development, for example, pivots on that concept (O'Neill, 2011). • Education. My research offers a framework for examining, for instance, Indigenous education, and the role of the market in educational provision. • International development. The concept of need has several historical connections with development initiatives, though it has also been a source of criticism in that context (Stewart, 1996; Reader, 2006). My research offers a new framework for exploring the problematic politics wrapped-up in such applications. • Food and nutrition. My research offers a method for integrating debates about food insecurity and obesity (Albritton, 2009; Patel, 2008) into a theoretical account of need. • Healthcare. I engage with questions around how political (and economic and social) practices have shaped the 'need for health', exploring pandemic public health measures. • Welfare policy and politics. My work gives a framework for examining the power relationships, exclusions, and capacity for voice in contemporary social policy. • Self-actualisation and social change. I place needs in a dynamic historical perspective by considering how contemporary social practices give rise to the need for 'self-actualisation', before exploring whether those practices ever meet the very needs they illicit. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/needs-in-political-theory |
| Description | ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship |
| Amount | £98,767 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/X00449X/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2022 |
| End | 10/2023 |
| Description | School Visit (London) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Around 40 pupils attended a talk on the life and work of Karl Marx, in which I explored the Marxian reading I have been developing, and contrasted this to traditional readings. This led to plenty of discussion and some follow-up questions from students after the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |