Social structure in new economic sociology: An evaluation through a critical realist approach

Abstract

This study argues that New Economy Sociology is insufficient in conceptualising social structure. In the new economic sociology, the social structure is defined through social networks, which are perceived as interpersonal relations. Since this explanation ignores the layered and stratified nature of social reality, its analysis is limited to the empirical level and remains a reductionist analysis. In The Critical Realist approach, social structures constitute a profound dimension of reality where there are mechanisms that produce social phenomena. Social structures generate social relations and norms but cannot be reduced to what it has created. This non-reductionism proves that social structures are not identical to interpersonal social ties or social networks. Social structures make individual actions possible, and these individual actions can transform the social structures. The study argues that the Critical Realist approach conceptualises the social structure necessary for economic and social theory.