Formalism, Behavioral Realism and the Interdisciplinary Challenge in Sociological Theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8975264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Omar Lizardo (0000-0002-5405-3007, University of Notre Dame, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 39-79 |
| Publication date | 2009-02-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-5914.2008.00393.x |
| OpenAlex | W2126997879 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 177 |
In this paper, I argue that recent sociological theory has become increasingly bifurcated into two mutually incompatible styles of theorizing that I label formalist and behavioral‐realist. Formalism favors mathematization and proposes an instrumentalist ontology of abstract processes while behavioral‐realist theory takes at its basis the “real” physical individual endowed with concrete biological, cognitive and neurophysiological capacities and constraints and attempts to derive the proper conceptualization of social behavior from that basis. Formalism tends to lead toward a conceptually independent sociology that in principle requires only minimal reference to the empirical and ontological storehouse of other disciplines, while behavioral‐realist theory leads to an interdisciplinary sociology that can be located within a hierarchy of behavioral sciences, leading to questions regarding the relationship between sociology and other disciplines as well as issues of transdisciplinary unification and possible interdisciplinary reduction. I explore the consequences of this split for the project of explanatory sociological theory within the context of how it has manifested itself in sociological network theory and social psychology. I close with a critique and assessment of formalist tendencies in sociological theorizing
Conceptualization · Critical realism (philosophy of perception · Epistemology · Formalism (music · Instrumentalism · Methodological individualism · Realism · Social science · Sociological theory · Sociology · Unification · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
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| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,88 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 14 |