If something doesn’t exist in theory, can it exist in practice? It’s fairly clear that the answer to this question has to be yes, if only because one can’t theorise about nothing at all (though quantum physics sometimes seems to be doing just that). In social theory, however, there has to be a basic minimum of fact or reality on the table for the theoretician to discuss what it’s for, how it impacts people, whether it could be improved, and much else. It’s also true, however, that without theory the facts are dumb. If we don’t have a sense that…