Call to Action Research

Davydd J. Greenwood, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Arts and Sciences in Anthropology, Cornell University, USA, Johan E. Ravn, Chief Scientist, SINTEF Research Foundation and Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Nord University, Norway and Koen P.R. Bartels, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy and Centre for Urban Wellbeing, University of Birmingham, UK

• ContentsPreface Introduction: action research and a sustainable future – restoring thesocial fabric and planetary ecology PART I WHAT ACTION RESEARCH IS AND WHY DO IT NOW1 The scope and promise of action research 2 Frameworks necessary to the practice of action research 3 The science of learning from liberating cases: action research,anti-essentialism, and adaptive learning organizations PART II HOW ACTION RESEARCH CONFRONTSSUSTAINABILITY CRISES4 Enabling just sustainability to avert ecological collapse 5 Domesticating harmful capitalism 6 Promoting solidarity to restore the social fabric 7 Embedding deliberative practice in governance PART III WHERE WE GO FROM HERE WITH ACTION RESEARCH8 Action research to confront crises 9 Action research and the transformation of educationalinstitutions towards sustainability and solidarity 10 Learning to do action research Bibliography

‘In this timely book the path-breaking Introduction to Action Research by Greenwood and Levin (1998, 2007), is revitalized in the context of the current devastating state of the planet, ridden by conflicts and crises in relations between people and to nature. The book calls for and conveys the possibility of turning social science out of its prevalent modern observatory and analytical stance and into a mechanism for improvement without losing its critical-analytical capacity. A Call to Action Research by Greenwood, Ravn and Bartels, articulates through multiple cases and concrete illustrations, the potential and promise of action research as a knowledge-oriented mode of engaging with the current problems of our world.’