Towards Critical IR Theories and Practices

2026-06-29

AI Summary

This study addresses the absence of a socially oriented theoretical foundation in contemporary information retrieval (IR) research, which hinders effective constraints on technological practices that undermine public welfare. It systematically introduces critical theory for the first time into IR, moving beyond dominant liberal frameworks to propose a new paradigm centered on the core value of non-domination and oriented toward the social good. By integrating insights from critical theory, social philosophy, and IR ethics, the work offers a clear conceptualization of social welfare and establishes both a theoretical grounding and normative criteria for evaluating the societal impacts of information retrieval technologies. This reconceptualization advances IR toward a more responsible and justice-oriented discipline.

Abstract

Belkin and Robertson urged us, half a century ago, to develop a theoretical foundation for understanding what constitutes societal good that can inform information retrieval (IR) research and serve as a basis for determining when we should limit our scientific inquiry in the face of demands that are contradictory to societal good. In this article, I argue that to achieve this, IR should embrace critical theories and practices in our work, and shift away from the dominant liberal frame through which much of the IR community today view societal concerns in context of our research. Unlike the liberal frame, the critical frame explicitly adopts nondomination as its stated goal which can clarify our conceptualization of societal good within the field, provide necessary theoretical underpinning that Belkin and Robertson urged the community to develop, and serve as a basis for critical appraisals of our progress in enacting desired societal change.

Problem

• information retrieval
• societal good
• critical theory
• nondomination
• theoretical foundation

Innovation

• critical theory
• information retrieval
• nondomination
• societal good
• liberal frame