ABSTRACT

Social positioning theory, in defending a general social ontology, is a particular extension of critical realism. It is a theory of social constitution that clarifies how items including human beings and things are relationally organized as instances of community components. This extension of critical realism is directly comparable to fundamental but underexamined contributions of the classical American pragmatist John Dewey and specifically his elaboration of a social ontology incorporating an emphasis upon offices that individuals and things come to occupy. In this paper, it is argued that there are substantial correspondences between social positioning theory and Dewey’s concern with offices that come to be filled. By drawing on social positioning theory the significance of an overlooked feature of Dewey’s social ontology comes to be better appreciated. Equally by conducting this comparison Dewey’s discussion of offices is recognized as anticipating some of the insights that social positioning theory has recently systematised.

摘要

社会定位理论为一般社会本体论辩护，是批判现实主义的特殊延伸。它是一种社会构成理论，它阐明了包括人和事物在内的项目如何作为社区组成部分的实例进行关系组织。批判现实主义的这种延伸与美国古典实用主义者约翰杜威的基本但未充分研究的贡献直接可比，特别是他对社会本体论的阐述，强调个人和事物占据的办公室。本文认为，社会定位理论与杜威对即将被填补的职位的关注之间存在实质性的对应关系。通过借鉴社会定位理论，杜威的社会本体论中一个被忽视的特征的重要性得到了更好的理解。同样，通过进行这种比较，杜威对办公室的讨论被认为是对社会定位理论最近系统化的一些见解的预测。