Social scientists who take the ideal of a science of society seriously believe that they have adopted only a method, and certainly not a metaphysics. Yet although these prescriptions appear purely methodological, they tacitly assume a picture of the kind of reality to be described....

Addresses the problem of whether an objective, realistic social science is possible or whether any social science is bound to remain merely a form of ideology-that is of systematically false, distorted belief. Formulates some ways of thinking about an autonomous social reality that can serve as...