Organizer: Russ McBride, U. of California, Merced
Speaker: Randall E. Westgren, U. of Missouri
Speaker: Robert Joseph Wuebker, U. of Utah
Participant: William S Schulze, U. of Utah
Participant: Sharon Alvarez, U. of Pittsburgh
Speaker: Sarah Rachel Chant, Tulane U.
Speaker: Brian Gordon, U. of Utah, David Eccles School of Business
Participant: Keith Culver, U. of British Columbia
Chair: Todd Zenger, Eccles School, U. of Utah
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| Social ontology has the ambitious goal of establishing what has never before existed, a theoretical foundation for all social sciences — economics, entrepreneurship, sociology, strategy, organizational behavior, sociology, political science, social psychology, management, etc. Whether it can achieve that lofty goal is unclear, but what is clear is that it will continue to have an enormous impact on all of the social science fields. Work by a handful of philosophers starting in the 80’s and 90’s has exploded into annual international conferences, a dedicated journal, hundreds of active researchers, and many books. It is now, arguably, the preeminent field for the study of the foundations of social phenomena. Social ontology reached the shores of the business fields three years ago and now has senior and junior scholars applying it to problems like entrepreneurial opportunity, value creation, enrollment, firm boundaries, legitimacy, microfoundations, role specialization, and more. The 2015 social ontology PDW had to turn away a hundred attendees who couldn’t fit in the room. This year’s 2017 session promises to offer an introduction to the field for those new to social ontology followed by presentations showcasing specific applications of social ontology to problems in entrepreneurship, strategy, economics, and organization theory, and concluding with an informal panel discussion. |