Two ontological orientations in Sociology: building social ontologies and blurring the boundaries of the ‘social’

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dc.citation.epage747en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber4en_US
dc.citation.spage732en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber49en_US
dc.contributor.authorKarakayali, N.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-02-08T10:10:00Z
dc.date.available2016-02-08T10:10:00Z
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.departmentDepartment of Political Science and Public Administrationen_US
dc.description.abstractThe article highlights two contrasting ways in which social theorists have been trying to define the ontological boundaries of sociology since the early days of the discipline. Some (e.g. Durkheim, Weber, and critical realists) have attempted to demarcate social reality as a causally autonomous and qualitatively distinct realm in a segmented/stratified universe. Others (e.g. Tarde, Spencer, Luhmann, sociobiologists, and actor-network theorists) have postulated a more open (or flat) ontological space and blurred such demarcations by either rejecting the causal autonomy of sociological phenomena, or their qualitative distinctiveness, or both. So far, there has been little convergence between these two orientations since according to the former, the opening of the boundaries is likely to give way to reductionist conceptions of society, whereas the latter tends to associate rigid boundaries with essentialism. Through a close examination of these opposing orientations, the article aims to shed light on current ontological dilemmas of sociology. © 2014, © The Author(s) 2014.en_US
dc.description.provenanceMade available in DSpace on 2016-02-08T10:10:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 bilkent-research-paper.pdf: 70227 bytes, checksum: 26e812c6f5156f83f0e77b261a471b5a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015en
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/0038038514551089en_US
dc.identifier.issn0038-0385
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/23181
dc.language.isoEnglishen_US
dc.publisherSage Publications Ltd.en_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038514551089en_US
dc.source.titleSociologyen_US
dc.subjectActor-network theoryen_US
dc.subjectCritical realismen_US
dc.subjectEvolutionary theoryen_US
dc.subjectHistory of sociologyen_US
dc.subjectOntologyen_US
dc.subjectSocial ontologyen_US
dc.subjectSystems theoryen_US
dc.titleTwo ontological orientations in Sociology: building social ontologies and blurring the boundaries of the ‘social’en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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