This article studies the contentious problem of reification in IR on the example of the idea of international society. It shows how the idea became reified, i.e. how the move was made from approaching international society as one of several competing frameworks for the study of international politics to considering it an objective fact, a self-evident reality of international politics and an entity in the possession of agency. For this purpose, I trace key writings of the English School and survey their contribution to the idea’s development and gradual reification. I posit that reification has been the outcome of individual strategies and disciplinary practices pertaining to the knowledge production process, in particular the perceived need to establish and maintain a research program while continuing to provide viable explanations of world events. In discussing the consequences, I argue that reification adversely affects not only research outcomes but also the study process. A reified category, once it becomes a default language through which to think and talk about international politics, narrows down avenues for diverging interpretations of international politics. Furthermore, endowing international society with agency hides real agents behind specific actions in international politics.

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国际关系中的具体化：国际社会理念具体化的过程和后果

本文以国际社会观念为例，研究国际关系中存在争议的物化问题。它展示了这个想法是如何具体化的，即如何将国际社会作为研究国际政治的几个相互竞争的框架之一，转变为将其视为客观事实、国际政治的不言自明的现实和国际政治中的一个实体。拥有代理权。为此，我追溯了英语学派的主要著作，并考察了它们对这一思想发展和逐步具体化的贡献。我认为具体化是与知识生产过程有关的个人策略和纪律实践的结果，尤其是在继续为世界事件提供可行解释的同时建立和维持研究计划的明显需要。在讨论后果时，我认为具体化不仅会对研究结果产生不利影响，还会对研究过程产生不利影响。一个具体化的类别一旦成为思考和谈论国际政治的默认语言，就会缩小对国际政治的不同解释的途径。此外，赋予国际社会能动性，在国际政治中的具体行动背后隐藏着真正的代理人。缩小了对国际政治的不同解释的途径。此外，赋予国际社会能动性，在国际政治中的具体行动背后隐藏着真正的代理人。缩小了对国际政治的不同解释的途径。此外，赋予国际社会以能动性，在国际政治中的具体行动背后隐藏着真正的代理人。