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Social Science Philosophy Workshop 2: Exploring Social Ontology

In the second of our 2026/27 Social Science Philosophy workshops, we will delve into the question of whether social objects—like institutions, social structures, or norms—are ‘real’. More so, we will ask the question what ‘reality’ even means when we are thinking and talking about social objects. The morning session focuses on foundational debates, while the afternoon explores critical realism as a useful framework for studying social reality.

Morning Session

The morning session will be dedicated to examining the nature and reality of social objects and will introduce you to three influential thinkers: John Searle, Ian Hacking and Margaret Archer. All three are well known for their engaging examples and fascinating analyses of social objects and, we will use three of their most famous examples as ‘case studies’ for how to do social ontology and also as prompts for debate.

• John Searle argues that social objects, such as money, are real insofar as they are grounded in what he calls ‘collective intentionality’. On his view, social reality emerges from shared agreements to assign functions to objects: for instance, we all agree, collectively, to use paper as money.
• Ian Hacking posits that social objects, like the psychiatric condition ‘multiple personality disorder’, while real, are also shaped and changed by feedback loops between classifications and human behaviour. Hacking thinks that social objects evolve as people respond to being categorized, raising questions about the ontological stability of the objects we think we are studying.
• Margaret Archer argues that social objects, like class, might not be directly observable, but is real in its capacity to constrain and shape people’s behaviour. Archer’s ‘morphogenetic approach’ explains social class through a temporal cycle of structural conditioning, social interaction, and structural elaboration.

Following Searle, Hacking and Archer, we will debate: What is money? What is mental illness? And: What is class?

Afternoon Session: Critical Realism and Social Ontology

Our focus in the afternoon shifts to critical realism, which is as much a programme for real social science research as a philosophy of the nature of social science. We will focus on the work of Roy Bhaskar, Andrew Sayer, and – especially - Ray Pawson and Nick Tilley.

• Pawson and Tilley argue that social programmes work through mechanisms that operate in specific contexts, producing observable outcomes. Their approach is ‘realistic’ in attempting to identify the real underlying causal mechanisms (that can be complicated, interlinked and largely hidden from view) that underpin social behaviour. But it is also ‘critical’ in questioning assumptions about policy effectiveness and, ultimately, being directed at progressive social change.

In the afternoon we will show how the philosophical insights detailed above can turn into a real programme for research: what Pawson and Tilley call ‘realistic evaluation’. We will discuss examples of realistic evaluation to demonstrate critical realism’s explanatory power, methods and evidence sources.

Resources and Structure:

This is an online Teams workshop which will run between 10-12 pm and 1-3 pm on Thursday 3rd December 2026 at University of Nottingham and online for those who cannot attend in person.

The day will be facilitated by Ben Kotzee, Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham and Deputy Director (Training) of the Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP. He researches philosophical issues in education, with a focus on understanding children and young people's intellectual and moral development. He has taught Philosophy of Social Science at the UoB for seven years and is the editor of Theory and Research in Education, the journal for analytic educational theory.

The session will be interactive, although no participant will be made to speak.

How to Attend:

Complete the registration form

You will be sent a calendar invitation with the link to join on Thursday 19th February.

Information about Workshops 1 and 3:

Workshop 1 will focus on applied epistemology and will take place on 19th November 2026.
Workshop 3 will enable you to apply your learning to your research project and will take place in February 2027.

Resources:

A series of written and video materials have been prepared to support the MGS DTP Social Science Philosophy workshop series. They can be accessed using your MGS DTP student login details here resources.