Social positioning theory and Dewey’s ontology of persons, objects and offices

ABSTRACT Social positioning theory, in defending a general social ontology, is a particular extension of critical realism. It is a theory of social constitution that clarifies how items including human beings and things are relationally organized as instances of community components. This extension of critical realism is directly comparable to fundamental but underexamined contributions of the classical American pragmatist John Dewey and specifically his elaboration of a social ontology incorporating an emphasis upon offices that individuals and things come to occupy. In this paper, it is argued that there are substantial correspondences between social positioning theory and Dewey’s concern with offices that come to be filled. By drawing on social positioning theory the significance of an overlooked feature of Dewey’s social ontology comes to be better appreciated. Equally by conducting this comparison Dewey’s discussion of offices is recognized as anticipating some of the insights that social positioning theory has recently systematised.