No, sorry. Wrong guide.

Welcome, hello, naa marni, guten morgen. This space is a growing self-reference on conducting social science research, or in German, gesellschaftsforschung. I’m Aidan, and I take a Marxian and radically progressive approach to the conduct of research, the publication of thoughts and commentary, and a transformative view towards the power of education and research in synthesis.

This growing resource is designed as a reference and field guide for social science research with a liberatory focus. For clarity, to me, this means Marxism and its compatriots, and as such is natural enemy to sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and so on. If you’re reading this, right now, you’ve found the site in a growth state. That means that as you read things are likely to change.

Indeed, this site is a (single author) wiki, but my approach to wikis is to use it more akin to a growing and learning blog; a kind of living curriculum. As I conduct research and commentary projects, do research and education tasks, give solicited advice to students, and so on I’ll document things I and others have found useful. That means that this space is not going to be written like a research textbook, but more like a field guide, a how to, or a blueprint on “doing the work”.

Eventually, as the site grows, I’ll aim to develop categories, specific interests, approaches and other things in a more navigable way. At the moment, however, the sidebar will serve as a space for the identification of what’s where. You can also use the search above to locate text or pages.

You can start your journey through the guide on the start page!

“Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” — ¹⁾ Marx, 1845

Liberation, above all else, is about understanding the world and changing it. Theory and practice are interlinked (vis praxis). Emancipatory social science, therefore, should guide transformative political action. This generates further praxis to be studied, and the world improves in a cyclical nature. Beyond voluntarism, our research and educational praxis must be grounded in a socialist ontology.

By developing a robust understanding, research, and disseminating this understanding in accessible and useful forms we can share what we know of structural mechanisms of the capitalist mode of production. Here, following Marx “we know” that capitalism gives rise to alienation, exploitation, and oppression — the things we are working against. And, in a true methodological form, this, Marx studied, in his analysis of commodity fetishism, surplus value extraction, capital accumulation, and so on ²⁾ kickstarting our tradition (or, soon to be, one supposes).

Hello, you can learn more about me over here. I’m a social scientist and researcher working on Kaurna Country in Australia. I completed a Marxist / Gramscian cultural studies PhD in 2021 and have been advocating for transformational research for many years. Across my career I have worked in a range of higher education and research settings, predominantly in public institutions. I am also an activist and have thrown the small weight I have behind transformative political movements when possible.