ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two dominant traditions of contemporary social thought that have proved highly influential in shaping research programs in the social sciences. It mainly discusses critical realism while also offering some comments on social constructionism. The people are indebted to Roy Bhaskar for bringing the concept of ontology back to the social theory and philosophy of the social sciences. It is important to remember that it is legitimate for philosophers to reflect on certain scientific metaphysical world-imageries, contrast them with world-imageries that are shared in different fields, or with world-imageries that are shared within philosophical circles. At the ontological level, social realists aim at the resurrection of the notion of real constraining wholes that determine/shape, or in milder versions influence /guide, individuals’ thoughts and behaviours. Yet, it is a common secret amongst critical realists that Bhaskar struggled to rescue the idea of the efficacious social structures from the idea of theory/activity-dependence of structures.
