Contradiction as Method - A Critical-Theoretical Approach to Ideational Economic Geography

This paper seeks to advance the emerging field of ideational economic geography by employing Frankfurt School critical theory, particularly Adorno's negative dialectics, to move beyond the dichotomy between critical realist and constructivist approaches. Current debates position imaginaries either as 'real' causal forces (critical realism) or as socially constructed meanings (constructivism), creating an apparent choice that limits analytical possibilities for understanding how sustainability imaginaries both express genuine ecological needs and contain them within existing social relations. The framework developed in this paper reconceptualizes ideational elements as inherently contradictory mediations between materiality and the process of ideation, transcending this divide through dialectical analysis that reveals how contradictions are constitutive rather than merely disruptive. This paper further suggests methodological strategies that focus on ruptures and failures as privileged moments for revealing these contradictions and their transformative potential.