Framing Positive Behavior Support in the Ongoing Discourse Concerning the Politics of Knowledge

Abstract

In this article, the authors examine the contributions of a progressive form of postmodern social theory to raising substantive issues about the politics of knowledge or the factors that govern decision processes regarding the nature of evidence from research. They examine the basis for the reaction against postmodernism that has appeared in the special education literature to date and, in particular, question whether it collectively represents a reasoned defense of the scientific basis for inquiry. The authors call attention to a confusion that occurs in these reactive positions between postmodernism on the one hand and subjectivism (i.e., qualitative research methods) in the production of knowledge on the other, which, like positivism (i.e., empirical methods), is a modern epistemology. They suggest that positive behavior support, because of its inherent pragmatism and multimethod focus on valued outcomes for people with disabilities, may offer a practice-focused forum for more productive conversations about multiple warrants, or justifying reasons, for alternative approaches to inquiry.