Realism and Sociology: Anti-Foundationalism, Ontology and Social Research

184 Pages·2002·1.32 MB·English

by  Justin Cruickshank

Realism and Sociology
Can philosophy guide empirical research in the social sciences?
In recent years methodological debates in the social sciences have increas-
inglyfocusedonissuesrelatingtoepistemology.RealismandSociologymakesan
original contribution to the debate, charting a middle ground between post-
modernism and positivism.
Critics often hold that realism tries to assume some definitive account of
reality. Against this it is argued throughout the book that realism can com-
bine a strong definition of social reality with an anti-foundational approach
toknowledge.Thepositionofrealistanti-foundationalismthatisarguedforis
developed and defended via the use of immanent critiques. These deal pri-
marilywithpost-Wittgensteinianpositionsthatseektodefineknowledgeand
social reality in terms of ‘rule-following practices’ within different ‘forms of
life’ and ‘language games’. Specifically, the argument engages with Rorty’s
neo-pragmatism and the structuration theory of Giddens. The philosophy of
Popper is also drawn upon in a critically appreciative way.
While the positions of Rorty and Giddens seek to deflate the claims of
‘grand theory’, albeit in different ways, they both end up with definitive
claimsaboutknowledgeandrealitythatprecludesocialresearch.Byavoiding
thegeneraldeflationaryapproachthatrelies onreferenceto‘practices’,real-
ism is able to combine a strong social ontology with an anti-foundational
epistemology, and thus act as an underlabourer for empirical research.
Justin Cruickshank is a lecturer in Methodology and the Philosophy of
Social Science in the Nottingham Graduate School for Social Research, at
Nottingham Trent University. He is the Deputy Editor of the Journal of
Critical Realism.
Routledge Studies in Critical Realism
Edited by Margaret Archer, Roy Bhaskar, Andrew Collier,
Tony Lawson and Alan Norrie
Critical realism is one of the most influential new developments in the phi-
losophyofscienceandinthesocialsciences,providingapowerfulalternative
to positivism and postmodernism. This series will explore the critical realist
position in philosophy and across the social sciences.
1.Marxism andRealism
Amaterialistic application of realismin the socialsciences
Sean Creaven
2.Beyond Relativism
RaymondBoudon,cognitive rationality and critical realism
CynthiaLins Hamlin
3.Education PolicyandRealist SocialTheory
Primaryteachers, child-centredphilosophy andthe new managerialism
Robert Wilmott
4.Hegemony
Arealist analysis
Jonathan Joseph
5.Realism andSociology
Anti-foundationalism, ontology andsocialresearch
Justin Cruickshank
Also publishedby Routledge:
Critical Realism:Interventions
Edited by Margaret Archer,RoyBhaskar, Andrew Collier, TonyLawson and
AlanNorrie
Critical Realism
Essential readings
Edited by Margaret Archer,RoyBhaskar, Andrew Collier, TonyLawson and
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ThePossibilityofNaturalism 3rdedition
Aphilosophical critique ofthe contemporary human sciences
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QuantumTheory andtheFlight fromRealism
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Realism andRacism
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RationalChoiceTheory
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Edited by Margaret ArcherandJonathan Q. Tritter
ExplainingSociety
Critical realismin the socialsciences
Berth Danermark, Mats Ekstru¨m,Jan C.Karlsson andLiselotte Jakobsen
Critical Realism andMarxism
Edited by Andrew Brown, Steve Fleetwood andJohn MichaelRoberts
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Heikki Patomaki

Realism and Sociology
Anti-foundationalism, ontology
and social research
Justin Cruickshank
London and New York
Firstpublished2003byRoutledge
11NewFetterLane,LondonEC4P4EE
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
29West35thStreet,NewYorkNY10001
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
#2003JustinCruickshank
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Cruickshank,Justin,1969–
Realismandsociology:anti-foundationalism,ontology,andsocial
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p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-415-26190-2
1.Sociology–Methodology.2.Sociology–Philosophy.3.Realism.
4.Ontology.I.Title.
HM511.C782002
0
301.01–dc21 2002069961
ISBN 0-203-11670-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-16334-6 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN0–415–26190–2(Print Edition)
Contents
List of figures ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
1 Thephilosophicallogicofimmediacy:theepistemic
fallacyandthegeneticfallacy 7
Introduction 7
Popper and the critique of positivism 9
Popper on post-Kantian epistemology, falsifiability and metaphysical
realism 11
Popper, the epistemic fallacy and the genetic fallacy 16
Putnam’s critique of metaphysical realism 19
Internal realism: conceptual relativity and realism 20
Searle on external realism and conceptual relativity 23
Putnam and the philosophical logic of immediacy 25
2 Thein£uenceofempiricismonsocialontology:
methodologicalindividualismandmethodological
collectivism 27
Introduction 27
Anticipating the sociological logic of immediacy 28
Methodological individualism defined 29
Assessing methodological individualism: the need for a non-individualist
ontology 30
Methodological collectivism: overcoming the problems? 34
3 Post-Wittgensteinianpragmatism:Rorty,
anti-representationalismandpolitics 37
Introduction 37
Realism and representation 38
Anti-representationalism and the philosophical logic of immediacy 40
viii Contents
Liberalism and ethnocentrism 48
Nietzschean liberalism 52
Poetry contra politics 55
Pragmatism and female being 58
From postmodernism to positivistic-conservatism 62
4 Post-Wittgensteiniansociology:Giddens’ontologyof
practices 69
Introduction 69
The importance of ontology 70
Rule-following practices 71
The ontological status of structures 76
Problems with rules 78
Problems with linking the micro and the macro levels 85
What is the purpose of structuration theory? Or, what is the link between
ontology and methodology? 90
5 Socialrealism:overcomingthesociologicallogicof
immediacy 95
Introduction 95
Bhaskar on the philosophy of science: from empirical realism to
transcendental realism 95
Transcendental realist naturalism: Bhaskar’s social ontology 103
Developing the ontology 106
Challenges to social realism 114
Rejoinder to the challenges 117
6 Socialrealismandthestudyofchronicunemployment 122
Introduction 122
Defining the underclass 122
Studying the chronically unemployed as members of the working class 134
Doing ‘fiddly jobs’: an ethnographic understanding of coping
strategies to deal with structural unemployment 135
The role of gender 136
The underclass and the sociological logic of immediacy 140
Realism as an underlabourer 143
Notes for the construction of a domain-specific meta-theory for
researching the chronically unemployed in Britain 145
Notes 154
Bibliography 161
Index 169
Figures
5.1 Bhaskar’s original TMSA model 109
5.2 The improved model 110
5.3 Archer’s morphogenetic/static cycle and its three phases 111
6.1 Levels of realist theorising 144
6.2 Network-specific CEPs and SEPs 150
6.3 Corporate agents and networks 151
6.4 Contexts and corporate agents 151
6.5 Primary agents and networks 152