ABSTRACT
When we want to characterize a theoretical notion such as that of a social kind, we do well to ask what that notion is for: who uses it and for what purpose? In our case, the answer is social scientists on the one hand and social theorists on the other, which includes theorists of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and the like, but also historians and archeologists, to name a couple of fields that may not fit squarely under the rubric of “social science.” But what is the notion of a social kind and the various social kinds for? Social kinds get used in forms of explanation of phenomena. These phenomena to be explained are often social phenomena, but can also be natural phenomena, when there is interaction between the natural and the social.
