Do we overvalue nuance?
Kieran Healy has a new paper on that topic (pdf), by the way a paper with a very short title (but this is a family blog). Here is his opening paragraph:
Nuance is not a virtue of good sociological theory. Sociologists typically use it as a term of praise, and almost without exception when nuance is mentioned is is because someone is asking for more of it. I shall argue that, for the problems facing Sociology at present, demanding more nuance typically obstructs the development of theory that is intellectually interesting, empirically generative, or practically successful.
And yet I find this paper has a lot of…nuance. But of course Healy is consistent, it is “Actually Existing Nuance” he is railing against…