Sociologists: what if you just... never used the word ontology?

Honestly, the idea that to do social science research you have to have some kind of worked-out ontological position on the world is one of the most pernicious pieces of nonsense, especially in graduate training.

(obviously, if you are a grad student who has written a chapter on this, I'm sure it is brilliant! I just don't think necessarily everyone should have to write that chapter)

The more you think about it, the idea that before you embark on a sociology (or anthropology!) PhD you have to first ***show in detail why you think it's reasonable to assume the world exists*** is WILD.