printRealism and “Formal” Sociology:
a New Reassembly of the Social (reflecting on a book of I.A. Shmerlina)
Кaterniy I.V.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof. of the Department of Sociology, MGIMO University; Senior Researcher, Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS, Moscow, Russia yarkus@mail.ru
Кaterniy I.V. Realism and “Formal” Sociology: a New Reassembly of the Social (reflecting on a book of I.A. Shmerlina). Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2023. No 4. P. 163-169
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 by 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”.
Bhaskar R. (1991) Societies (from Bhaskar R. (1979) The Possibility of Naturalism (ch. 2). Brighton: Harvester Press). Sotsio-Logos. Moscow: Progress: 219–240. (In Russ.)
Bhaskar R. (2008) A Realist Theory of Science. London, New York: Routledge.
Dojdev D.V. (1996) Basis for the Protection of Possession in Roman Law. Moscow: IGP RAN. (In Russ.)
Fligstein N., McAdam D. (2022) A Theory of Fields. Moscow: GU VSHE. (In Russ.)
Giddens A. (2004) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. St. Petersburg: Piter. (In Russ.)
Hölldobler B.E., Wilson O. (2008) The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Hughes E.C. (2009) Bastard Institutions (from Hughes E.C. (1971) The Sociological Eye: Selected Papers. N.Y.: Routledge. P. 98–105). Lichnost. Kultura. Obschestvo [Personality. Culture. Society]. Vol. XI. Iss. 3. No. 50–51: 55–62. (In Russ.)
Ionin L.G. (2004) Sociology of Culture. 4th ed. Moscow: VSHE. (In Russ.)
Latour B. (2014) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Moscow: VSHE. (In Russ.)
Lock A., Strong T. (2021) Social Constructionism: Sources and Stirrings in Theory and Practice. Moscow: VCIOM. (In Russ.)
Marx K. (1968) Forms which Precede Capitalist Production. In: Marx K., Engels F. Works. Moscow: Politizdat. Vol. 46. P. 1: 461–508. (In Russ.)
Marx K., Engels F. (1955) The German Ideology. In: Marx K., Engels F. Works. Moscow: Politizdat. Vol. 3: 7–544. (In Russ.)
McCall G.J., McCall M.M., Denzin N.K. et al. (2010 (1970)) Friendship as a Social Institution. London, New York: Routledge.
Popper K.R. (2008) Knowledge and the Body-Mind Problem. Moscow: LKI. (In Russ.)
Rickert H. (1998) Die Philosophie des Lebens. Kyiv: Nika-Centr, Vist-S. (In Russ.)
Shmerlina I.A. (2013) Biological Facets of Sociality: Essays on the Natural Prerequisites of Human Social Behavior. Moscow: LIBROKOM. (In Russ.)
Shmerlina I.A. (2016) Corruption as a Diffuse Institute. Sovremennyie issledovaniya sotsialnyih problem [Modern studies of social problems (e-journal)]. No. 11(67): 248–277. DOI: 10.12731/2218-7405-2016- 11-248-277. (In Russ.)
Shmerlina I.A. (2022) Sociology of Social Forms: Reassembling the Theory. Moscow: FNISTS RAN. (In Russ.)
Tarde G. (2016) Monadologie et sociologie. Moscow: Gile Press. (In Russ.)