Abstract
The Critical Social Theory (CST) program of information systems research is now just over a decade old. Although the number of researchers associated with the CST program are few, they have had a disproportionately larger impact on the field than other research communities. The main reason for this disproportionate impact can be found in the intense and incisive radical critiques of the foundational assumptions of our field that CST researchers have conducted. These radical critiques have helped to open up the theoretical debate on IS research and point out new directions for future inquiry. But as we turn the century, new challenges are emerging. New information technologies (IT) are rapidly invading all social forms of life, impinging upon the daily experiences of individuals and radically changing the relationship between people and IT. Like no other research program, the CST approach is based on the ideals of emancipation from blind technological rationality and uses of IT that enhances freedom and justice. How then will the CST research program respond to developments in new information technologies which have the potential to be intensively oppressive?
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Ngwenyama, O., Davis, G., Lyytinen, K., Truex, D., Cule, P. (1997). Panel — Assessing Critical Social Theory Research in Information Systems. In: Lee, A.S., Liebenau, J., DeGross, J.I. (eds) Information Systems and Qualitative Research. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35309-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35309-8_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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