Immanent non-algorithmic rules: an ontological study of social rules
TLDR
In this paper, the authors argue that a rule is social if and only if it is internally related to a social relation, and this helps to clarify and systematize how social rules relate to social positions and identities.Abstract:
What kind of things are social rules? The paper starts from the critique of social rules articulated by ethnomethodologists and proposes an alternative conception of rules as situated, often tacit, imperatives. This ontological theorization borrows insights from critical realism and post-structuralism to explore general features of rules. For instance: they under-determine fields of legitimate actions, are prone to logical stratification, are anchored to desires and are inherently open to interpretation, though in a discursively structured way. Moreover, it is proposed that a rule is social if and only if it is internally related to a social relation. In turn, this helps to clarify and systematize how social rules relate to social positions and identities.
The purpose of this ontological study is three-fold. Firstly, it attempts to articulate a realist conception of rules that avoids their dilution (as in the works of ethnomethodology) as well as their reification into codes or algorithms (as in the works of functionalist sociology). Secondly, it purports to initiate a dialogue with other authors writing on rules such as Giddens, Lawson and Searle. Finally, it aims to facilitate the development of empirical research on rules and related processes of legitimation, identification and subversion.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Ontology and the study of social reality: emergence, organisation, community, power, social relations, corporations, artefacts and money
TL;DR: The notion of social reality proposed by as mentioned in this paper is thoroughly naturalistic and even consistent with modern interpretations of quantum field theory, and it also serves to ground a social science that can be scientific in the sense of natural science.
BookDOI
Social Ontology and Modern Economics
TL;DR: The Cambridge approach to social ontology as discussed by the authors has been used to understand Schumpeter after Shionoya, and the LSE approach to econometric modelling and critical realism as programmes for research.
Book ChapterDOI
Anormative Social Regulation: The Attempt to Cope with Social Morphogenesis
TL;DR: The problem of normativity concerns the role that society's value system, norms and conventions play in legislative regulation as mentioned in this paper, and it is argued that as these elements weaken, "anormative regulation" takes over in contemporary society, entailing no 'ought', exerting a causal force not a moral one, and operating through penalizations and prohibitions, which are punitive without entailing either a criminal record or invoking social sanction.
Journal ArticleDOI
The arbitrariness and normativity of social conventions.
Ismael Al-Amoudi,John Latsis +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a processual conception of social conventions is proposed, which considers conventions as both the outcome and material cause of much human activity and provides a novel perspective on how conventions are nested and defined, and on how they are established, maintained and challenged.
References
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Book
Studies in Ethnomethodology
TL;DR: This work focuses on Ethnomethodology, which investigates the role of sex status in the lives of the Intersexed Person and some of the rules of Correct Decisions that Jurors Respect.
Book
Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the difficulty of being an ANT and the difficulties of tracing the social networks of a social network and how to re-trace the social network.
Book
The Social System
TL;DR: In the history of sociological theory, Talcott Parsons holds a very special place. as discussed by the authors presents a major scientific and intellectual advance towards the theory of action first outlined in his earlier work.
Book ChapterDOI
Economy and society : an outline of interpretive sociology
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the economy and the Arena of Normative and De Facto Powers in the context of social norms and economic action in the social sciences, and propose several categories of economic action.