Realism, causality and the problem of social structure

This paper compares and contrasts two varieties of realist philosophy of social science, namely die critical realist approach developed by Roy Bhaskar and die discursivist approach championed by Rom Harre. The paper responds to the recent discursivist critique of Bhaskar's work, published in this journal by Harre and Varela (1996). Tt is argued that while Harre and Varela have highlighted important weaknesses in the critical realist analysis of the social world, these can be overcome to leave intact critical realism's basic claim that social structure is ontologically irreducible and causally efficacious.