Using critical realism to understand the legal need of disadvantaged and marginalised Australians

Dr. Catherine Hastings presents 'using critical realism to understand and explain the legal need of disadvantaged and marginalised Australians'. This lecture describes how Catherine has applied the meta-philosophical principles of critical realism to explain and understand how the term 'legal need' can be better understood in the hope that more equitable outcome will be derived in the future for disadvantaged Australians.

Dr. Catherine Hastings is a Macquarie University Research Fellow at the Macquarie Law School in Sydney Australia. She has 15 years' experience in applied social research and evaluation. Her PhD in sociology developed an explanation of family homelessness in Australia. Her current research is a critical realist and sociological study of the legal needs of marginalised and disadvantaged Australians. She aims to increase our understanding of the nature of the legal issues these communities face and establish a framework for explaining why, how, for whom and in what contexts they develop. Her research is informed by the knowledge needs of the government funded legal assistance sector in Australia and incorporates an applied focus. Catherine’s secondary research interest is an investigation of how scholars informed by critical realism are using it in empirical research. She is working on a book about critical realist-informed research methodology.