Philosophy of Social Science and Critical Realism: Selected Basic Readings

Last Update: January 1, 2025

Archer, M. S., Bhaskar, R., Collier, A., Lawson, T., & Norrie, A. (Eds.). (1998). Critical Realism : Essential Readings. Routledge.

Benton, T., & Craib, I. (2023). Philosophy of Social Science: The Philosophical Foundations of Social Thought (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing.

Bhaskar, R. (1979/2014). The possibility of naturalism: A philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences (4th ed.). Routledge.

Bhaskar, R. (2008). A realist theory of science. Routledge.

Bhaskar, R. (2016). Enlightened common sense: the philosophy of critical realism (M. Hartwig, Ed.). Routledge.

Blaikie, N. (2007). Approaches to social enquiry: Advancing knowledge (2nd ed.). Polity.

Buch-Hansen, H., & Nielsen, P. (2020). Critical Realism: Basics and Beyond. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Bunge, M. (2009). Causality and Modern Science (4th ed.). Transaction Publicshers. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315081656

Chakravartty, A. (2017). Scientific Realism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/scientific-realism/

Collier, A. (1994). Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bhaskar’s Philosophy. Verso.

Craver, C., & Tabery, J. (2023). Mechanisms in Science. In E. N. Zalta & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/science-mechanisms

Danermark, B., Ekström, M., & Karlsson, J. C. (2019). Explaining Society: Critical Realism in the Social Sciences (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Elder-Vass, D. (2021). The nature of social reality: issues in social ontology. Journal of Critical Realism, 20(3), 322-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2021.1930469

Epstein, B. (2021). Social Ontology. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/social-ontology

Groff, R. (2013). Ontology revisited: Metaphysics in social and political philosophy. Routledge.

Harré, R. (1986). Varieties of realism: a rationale for the natural sciences. Blackwell.

Kjørstad, M., & Solem, M.-B. (2018). Basic Concepts in Critical Realism. In M. Kjørstad & M.-B. Solem (Eds.), Critical Realism for Welfare Professions (pp. 13-20). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315517537

Lawani, A. (2021). Critical realism: what you should know and how to apply it. Qualitative Research Journal, 21(3), 320-333. https://doi.org/10.1108/qrj-08-2020-0101

Lawson, T. (2019). The nature of social reality: Issues in social ontology. Routledge.

Maxwell, J. A. (2012). A Realist Approach for Qualitative Research. Sage.

Rutzou, T. (2020). Realism. In P. Kivisto (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Social Theory: Vol. 2. Contemporary Theories and Issues (pp. 163-183). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316677452.010

Rutzou, T., & Steinmetz, G. (Eds.). (2018). Critical Realism, History, and Philosophy in the Social Sciences. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Sayer, A. (2000). Realism and Social Science. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Sayer, A. (2010). Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach (Revised 2nd ed.). Routledge.