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…

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