Reconstructing Sociology

Critical realism is a philosophy of science that positions itself against the major alternative philosophies underlying contemporary sociology. This book offers a general critique of sociology particularly sociology in the United States from a critical realist perspective. It also acts as an introduction to critical realism for students and scholars of sociology. Written in a lively accessible style Douglas V. Porpora argues that sociology currently operates with deficient accounts of truth culture structure agency and causality that are all better served by a critical realist perspective. This approach argues against the alternative sociological perspectives in particular the dominant positivism which privileges statistical techniques and experimental design over ethnographic and historical approaches. However the book also compares critical realism favourably with a range of other approaches including poststructuralism pragmatism interpretivism practice theory and relational sociology. Numerous sociological examples are included and each chapter addresses well-known and current work in sociology.