Williams, Malcolm David  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4540-5784
2009.
Social objects, causality and contingent realism.
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
39
(1)
, pp. 1-18.
10.1111/j.1468-5914.2008.00396.x
|
Abstract
This paper is a realist argument for the existence of “social objects”. Social objects, I argue, are the outcome states of a contingent causal process and in turn posses causal properties. This argument has consequences for what we can mean by realism and consequences for the development of a realist methodology. Realism should abandon the notion of natural necessity in favour of a view that the “real” nature of the social world is contingent and necessity is only revealed in outcome states. This, I argue, has both theoretical and methodological implications and I develop my argument through two case studies, of homelessness and ethnicity.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Research Institutes & Centres > Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | realism; social objects; causality; probability; necessity |
| Publisher: | Blackwell Publishing |
| ISSN: | 0021-8308 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Oct 2022 07:44 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/26233 |
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