Abstract

This chapter utilizes Karl Popper’s conceptual tools from his critique of historicism and holism to demonstrate the presence of holist bias in methodology and epistemology of contemporary social sciences including sociology of gender, sociology of race and ethnicity, environmental sociology and the movements for decolonization of sociology. By analyzing examples from recent research in these perspectives, the chapter argues that the impact of holism has persisted, even intensified in social sciences. It continues to make social sciences vulnerable to non-scientific irrationalism and to political goals undermining scientific ones. Therefore, Popper’s warnings about the dangers of holism remain highly relevant to contemporary sociology.