Social objects, causality and contingent realism

Williams, Malcolm David 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

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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:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) 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:	04 Jun 2017 03:46
URI:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/26233

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