The critique of political economy as a method: some elements for research in the social sciences

Abstract

With this article, we aim to shed light on some elements of the critique of political economy as a method that favor
the development of research in the field of human and social sciences. For this, we start from the writings produced by Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels – which we complement with the theoretical advances produced by some Marxist intellectuals
over the last century and a half – in an effort to highlight important principles for investigation. We emphasize, as relevant
aspects of the work, that social research must be based on the concrete reality, and it is up to the researcher to discover the
mediation between appearance and essence through successive approximations of reconstruction, in thought, of the totality
of the analyzed phenomenon, from their own movement, in view of social transformation.