This book investigates the ontological foundations of modern economics and the failure of mainstream methods to account for the nature of social reality. Tony Lawson, a prominent economist and philosopher, argues that the discipline's reliance on mathematical modeling and deductive logic is fundamentally mismatched with the open, structured, and evolving nature of the social world. He proposes a critical realist framework to better understand how social phenomena are produced and how economic analysis might be reconstructed to reflect these realities more accurately.

Experts frequently cite this work as a foundational text for heterodox economic thought and social ontology. Readers often note the high level of philosophical density, which requires careful engagement with the author's specialized terminology.