ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses social ontology, social mechanisms, social trends and social structure. It evaluates the plausibility of each theory based on its theoretical framework, and explains actual conditions and author's personal experience and judgement. The chapter examines the four elements of the epistemological continuum: objectivism, critical realism, constructionism and subjectivism. This continuum is the part of the evaluation rubric. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines epistemology as 'the theory or science of the method or grounds of knowledge'. There are three significant elements: the idea that knowledge is a social product, that knowledge is dependent on its producer and that knowledge producers are workers. There is an essential tension present for those wishing to understand and explain society and culture. Some social theorists argue that society is based on and should be studied as a macro-entity.
