Realism and “Formal” Sociology

A theoretical inquiry into the ideas proposed by Irina A.Shmerlina in her new book “The Sociology of Social Forms: Reassembling the Theory” (2022) is provided.The author of the book pursues theoretical reframing the sociological tradition based on elaborating the category of "social form".This perspective has no accredited paradigmatic status as a whole, but by reviving and reassembling theoretical contribution of G. Simmel, F. Tönnies, H. Freyer, G. Gurvitch, R. Bhaskar and others, Irina A. Shmerlina reveals the promising heuristic potential of “formal” sociology in explaining the nature of the social. Grounded on the methodology of critical realism and research in the field of sociobiology, the book develops a comprehensive view on the structural organization of social life, thus attempting at resolving the classical sociological antinomies "society-individual", "structure-agency", "macro-micro". Keywords social form, realism, formal sociology, social theory, the social Received 02.05.2023 Included in issue 12.07.2023 Publication date 12.07.2023 Number of characters 18771 Cite Download pdf Исходный файл.docx _signed_license_agreement

Agency (philosophy) · Critical realism (philosophy of perception) · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Habitus · Realism · Social science · Sociology · Structure and agency · Philosophy · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia