Knowledge and the Sociology of Knowledge

This chapter provides an overview of the general problems that have been faced by the sociology of knowledge, and points to how these might begin to be rectified by bringing a critical realist perspective to bear on it. Following an overview of the critical realist approach to the social sciences and to sociology, I outline how this may be applied to the sociology of knowledge. I then turn to a comparison between the sociology of knowledge and traditional epistemology, highlighting some of the gaps and missteps that an unduly philosophical approach to knowledge has wrought, and contrast this with the direction taken in this book. This chapter also provides a guide to the questions addressed in each of the subsequent chapters.