Social Objects, Causality and Contingent Realism |
| |
Authors: | MALCOLM WILLIAMS |
| |
Institution: | School of Law and Social Science University of Plymouth Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA UK |
| |
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. |
| |
Keywords: | realism social objects causality probability necessity |
|
|