The Theory of the Social Reduction of Contingency As Critical Theory

The theory of the social reduction of contingency is a theory I’ve been working on for many years. In this theory I integrate aspects of Luhmann’s social systems theory, Bourdieu’s theory of practice and Latour’s actor-network theory, amongst others. From this integration emerges the concept of contingency reductor social operator which allows me to observe the social not as a realm, but as a problem solved by communication, practical dispositions and capacities, and materiality. With this theory I’ve done empirical research on different topics. Most recently -along with my college Rodrigo Gómez- I’ve done research on climate change. In this research I’ve seen the need to integrate to the theory aspects of Marxist political economy and of critical theory. This collaboration needs to be deepened to enable the theory of the social reduction of contingency to go beyond the mere description and explanation of phenomena. In this paper I develop this collaboration. The main idea is that a critical theory consists of three moments: the critical one, the empirical one and the “therapeutical” one. The critical moment establishes the normative principles according to which reality is going to be evaluated and the “therapeutical” one consists of proposals to change social reality. However, to be able to connect these two moments critical theory needs to have a strong theoretical paradigm that fosters empirical research. Without empirical research critical theory becomes nothing more than wishful thinking. To change the social world, we need to know how it works and to know how it works we need a robust theory. The theory if the social reduction of contingency seeks to be this theory because it integrates important yields from different theories and therefore observes different aspects of social reality.