Dr Stephen Kemp
Job Title
Senior Lecturer
Room number
6.30Building (Address)
Chrystal Macmillan BuildingStreet (Address)
15a George SquareCity (Address)
EdinburghCountry (Address)
UKPost code (Address)
EH8 9LDResearch interests
Research interests
Social theory, the structure/agency problem, actor-network theory, rationality, explanation, complexity theory, Risk, epistemology and epistemic justification
My research is in the area of social theory, and I have a particular interest in debates about social scientific knowledge (epistemology) and about the fundamental features of the social world (ontology). In relation to social scientific knowledge, I'm interested in the question of what knowledge is for - is the intention to describe the social world, to explain it, or to change it? I also spend a lot of time thinking about issues of justification, reflecting on whether social scientific knowledge claims can be epistemically justified despite their apparent entanglements with politics and power. I'm currently thinking about these questions in relation to relatively recent developments like actor-network theory and the 'new empiricism', but I also consider older approaches such as realism and social constructionism. In relation to the ontology of the social world, I'm interested in contestations over the fundamental features of the social world - is the social world made up of discourses and performances, networks and flows, structures and agents, or some other entities?
Topics interested in supervising
I would be very happy to supervise research in any of the following areas: (1) Social theory: including ontological arguments about discourse, performance and structure, debates about the complexity of the social world, the interpretation of social action, and rationality in scientific and everyday contexts. (2) Philosophy of social science: including investigations concerned with the links between theory and research, the impact of politics, power, and values on knowledge, and analyses of progress, explanation and theory-testing in social science. (3) Risk: including research addressing Beck's Risk Society thesis, extreme risk-taking, expertise and lay-expert relations, and the gendered aspects of risk perception and action. (4) Sociology of knowledge: including debates around the social character of knowledge and knowledge/power. (5) Human/non-human: particularly debates regarding actor-network theory's approach to this division.
If you are interested in being supervised by Stephen Kemp, please see the links below for more information:
- PhD in Sociology (opens in new window)
Background
Qualifications
- BA, MPhil (Sociology, Massey University, New Zealand)
- PhD (University of Edinburgh)
Publications include:
'Objectivity, Criticism and Dialogue', 2024, Innovation in the Social Sciences, 2(2), pp.171-193. Available open access here
'Organizational de-structuring? Latour's potential contribution to the critical realist - pragmatist dispute', 2022, Journal of Critical Realism, Full article at tandfonline.com
'The two stories of the habitus/structure relation and the riddle of reflexivity: A meta-theoretical reappraisal', 2020, C. Bouzanis and S. Kemp, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 50(1), pp.64-83
'Residuality and inconsistency in the interpretation of socio-theoretical systems', 2019, C. Bouzanis and S. Kemp, Sociological Theory, 37(3), pp.282-292.
'Transformational Fallibilism and the Development of Understanding', 2017, Social Epistemology, 31(2), pp.192-209 http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GKb8cBtRAnDjIg5gmxvK/full
'The Analysis School and Feminism: Intersection, Explanation and a Challenge', 2016, in S. Raffel and B. Sandywell (eds.) The Reflexive Initiative: On The Grounds and Prospects of Analytic Theorizing, Routledge
'Evaluating Interests in Social Science: Beyond Objectivist Evaluation and the Non-Judgemental Stance', 2012, Sociology, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 664-679, http://soc.sagepub.com/content/46/4/664
'Questioning Contingency in Social Life: Roles, Agreement and Agency' (with John Holmwood), 2012, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5914.2012.00499.x
Works within
Staff Hours and Guidance
Semester 1 2024-5: Tuesdays 3-5pm except for Week 1 when they will be Tuesday 4-5pm
Publications by user content
Publication | Research Explorer link |
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Kemp S. Objectivity, criticism and dialogue. Innovation in the Social Sciences . 2024 Jul;2(2):171-193. Epub 2024 Jul 3. doi: 10.1163/27730611-bja10018 |
View |
Kemp S. Organizational de-structuring? Latour’s potential contribution to the critical realist – pragmatist dispute. Journal of Critical Realism. 2022 May 27;21(3):309-330. Epub 2022 Mar 22. doi: 10.1080/14767430.2022.2049090 |
View |
Bouzanis C, Kemp S. The two stories of the habitus/structure relation and the riddle of reflexivity: A meta-theoretical reappraisal. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 2020 Mar;50(1):64-83. Epub 2019 Aug 20. doi: 10.1111/jtsb.12225 |
View |
Bouzanis C, Kemp S. Residuality and inconsistency in the interpretation of socio-theoretical systems. Sociological Theory. 2019 Sept 1;37(3):282-292. Epub 2019 Aug 29. doi: 10.1177/0735275119869973 |
View |
Kemp S. Transformational fallibilism and the development of understanding. Social Epistemology. 2017;31(2):192-209. Epub 2017 Feb 23. doi: 10.1080/02691728.2016.1270365 |
View |
Kemp S. The analysis school and feminism: Intersection, explanation, and a challenge. In Raffel S, Sandywell B, editors, The Reflexive Initiative: On the Grounds and Prospects of Analytic Theorizing. Abingdon; New York: Routledge. 2016. p. 184-201. (Routledge Advances in Sociology; 172). doi: 10.4324/9781315692654 |
View |
Kemp S. Interests and Structure in Dualist Social Theory: A Critical Appraisal of Archer's Theoretical and Empirical Arguments. Philosophy of the Social Sciences. 2012 Dec;42(4):489-510. Epub 2011 Dec 15. doi: 10.1177/0048393111428809 |
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Kemp S, Holmwood J. Questioning Contingency in Social Life: Roles, Agreement and Agency. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 2012 Dec;42(4):403-424. Epub 2012 Jun 21. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5914.2012.00499.x |
View |
Kemp S. Evaluating Interests in Social Science: Beyond Objectivist Evaluation and the Non-judgemental Stance. Sociology. 2012 Aug;46(4):664-679. Epub 2012 Apr 18. doi: 10.1177/0038038511425561 |
View |
Kemp S. Unpredictability and Nonlinearity in Complexity Theory: A Critical Appraisal. Emergence. 2009;11(1):84-93. |
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