# Sociology and The Complexity of What Is Missing

## TL;DR

The paper argues that sociology's focus on presence overlooks important nuances in social complexity.

## Contribution

It introduces a metaphysical focus on 'what is missing' to critique and enrich complexity studies in sociology.

## Key findings

- Sociological complexity discourse often neglects subtler aspects of social settings.
- A focus on absence reveals inadequacies in traditional complexity theories.
- The paper suggests that overlooking absence limits sociological understanding.

## Abstract

What is ‘missed’ by sociological literature underpinned by assumptions of presence that a missing approach can rectify? I appropriate a metaphysics of presence and an alternative focus on what is missing as ontological foci to revisit complexity studies in sociology. I review key themes therein and show that, by predominantly adopting a being‐laden set of metaphysical assumptions, the complexity discourse overlooks subtler and more nuanced aspects of elucidating social settings. By attuning ourselves to what is missing, I make a case for what the possible consequences of this overlooking might be while showing the theorizing inadequacies of complexity thinking, which rests squarely on tangibility and observability of Aristotelian entities.