On Foundations Research In The Social Sciences

Among the hallmarks of a mature science are a concern with foundations and an effort to secure those foundations as firmly as possible. Even for the youngest of social sciences, a conceptual foundations study should prove worthwhile. After a brief exposition of foundations issues, the authors illustrate a foundations study in marketing through a semantic analysis of the expression 'market', as typically defined in standard marketing textbooks. The findings of this analysis suggest that 'market' is a normative rather than descriptive expression, and therefore denotes nothing measurable. The authors discuss the importance of this finding to social scientists and the opportunities for other foundations studies in the social sciences.