What is Sociological Theory?
Robert Wonser
SOC 368 – Classical Sociological Theory
Spring 2014
Theory
What is it?
Three Basic Characteristics:
abstract
testable
explains, describes, explores or predicts some
aspect of social life.
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Theory is not to be confused with:
Ideology
Scientific/Empirical Observation
Religion
Philosophy
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Sociological Theory and the Research Process
Increasing Abstraction
Abstract Ideas
Philosophy
Theory
Concepts
Propositions
O P E RAT I O N A L I Z A T I O N
Increasing Concreteness
Hypothesis
Variables
Indicators/Measures
Empirical Observations
Real World
Data
Classical
Sociological
Theory
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Sociological Theory and Social Theory
 Today distinctions are often made between
Sociological Theory and Social Theory.
 Sociological Theory is strongly oriented towards
science and scientific testing. Theories are
developed and their validity is tested through
scientific methods. Sociological Theories are
expressed in propositions.
 Social Theory tends to be more ideological
making statements about how the world could be,
or should be. It tends to be very politically
motivated theory focusing upon consciousness
raising and social change.
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Types of Sociological/Social Theory:
Positivistic (Scientific)
Interpretive/Hermeneutics
Critical Theory
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Examples of Social Theory
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Max Weber:
“Society has become an iron cage of rationality.”
Karl Marx:
“Philosophers have only interpreted the world … the point, however,
is to change it.”
Pierre Bourdieu:
“Individuals embody a habitus as a structured structure and a
structuring structure.”
Michel Foucault:
“A new type of society has emerged, a disciplinary society of
surveillance.”
George Ritzer:
“Society has given rise to a new means of consumption based upon
McDonalds.”
Jean Baudrillard:
“Everyday life is dominated by simulations.”
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Examples of Sociological Theory
 Sociological Theories are typically expressed with formal
propositions:
 A proposition expresses the relationship between two
concepts.
 Examples of propositional forms:
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The greater the X the greater the Y
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The greater the X the less the Y
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The less the X the less the Y
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The less the X the greater the Y
 X and Y are concepts, and are things which must be able
to vary, or take on more than one value.
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Durkheim Example of Sociological Theory
 Emile Durkheim asks a very basic question:
 Why do some people become so depressed that they
commit suicide? Is there a sociological explanation for
suicide?
 Theoretical Proposition:
 The more social ties a person has the less likely they are
to commit suicide.
 What are the two concepts here?
 The number of social ties
 Decision to commit suicide.
 These concepts keep the proposition at the theoretical
level because they are abstract.
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How did Durkheim test this theory (i.e.
How did he convert his abstract,
theoretical proposition into an empirical,
real-world hypothesis)?
He developed real world measures of the
number of social ties.
He developed a real world measure of the
decision to commit suicide.
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Real World Measures of the Number of
Social Ties
 Type of religious participation
 Family type (married, divorced, single, etc.)
 Number of children
 Gender
 Military participation
 Real world measures of the decision to commit
suicide:
 Cause of death listed on death certificates
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Following Durkheim
 The statement that …
 Married people, compared to unmarried people,
are less like to commit suicide.
 … is not a theory. It is an empirical hypothesis.
 Although it is testable, it is not abstract. It is too
concrete, and too tied to a specific real world
measure.
 A theory should be able to be applied to a whole
range of real world instances.
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The Social Context of the Emergence and
Development of Sociological Theory
 Sociology is a product of the Enlightenment
 (17th-18th Centuries)
 Philosophical Principles:
 Scientific Understanding
 Freedom
 Progress
 Social Development
 Individual Potential
 Reason
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Key Social Transformations (17th and
18th Centuries):
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Scientific Revolution
Religious Revolution
Educational Revolution (Universities)
Political Revolutions
Industrial/Technological Revolution
Economic Revolution
Urban Revolution
Revolution in Social Organization
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The early development of Sociological
Theory had a two-fold source:
 It was a conservative reaction to the
Enlightenment tradition.
 It evolved as a serious attempt to
understand the changing nature of society
during the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Comparison of Enlightenment
(philosophes) and Sociological Thought
Enlightenment
Sociological
emphasis on the individual
emphasis on groups - society, church,
family
individual produces society
society produces the individual
individual is the atom of society
individuals are "abstractions"
segmentation and autonomy of social parts
interdependency and integration of
social parts
social change is progressive
social change is disruptive
society produces constraints on individuals
society benefits the individual
groups are produced through social
contracts (convenient)
group life is fundamental to society
emphasis on reason and rationality
emphasis on non-rational (emotional)
factors
individual freedom and equality
authority and hierarchy
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Key Ideas of Early Theorists
We are headed into an increasingly
centralized world with less individual
freedom (Alexis de Tocqueville)
We are evolving in a direction of a world
dominated by science (Auguste Comte)
The world is moving in the direction of
increasing order and harmony (Herbert
Spencer)
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Key Ideas of Early Theorists
Capitalism is based on the exploitation of
the workers by the capitalists (Karl Marx)
The modern world offers less moral
cohesion than did earlier societies (Emile
Durkheim)
The modern world is an iron cage of
rational systems from which there is no
escape (Max Weber)
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Key Ideas of Early Theorists
The city spawns a particular type of
person (Georg Simmel)
Gender inequality explains most of the
individual experience, the ills of society,
and history (Charlotte Perkins Gilman).
A “veil” rather than a wall separates
African Americans and whites (W.E.B. Du
Bois).
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Key Ideas of Early Theorists
People engage in conspicuous
consumption (Thorstein Veblen)
People’s minds and their conceptions of
themselves are shaped by their social
experiences (George Herbert Mead).
Society is an integrated systems of
structures and functions (Talcott Parsons).
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Early Traditions of Sociological Theory
 Subsequent sociologists have
grouped these thinkers into
categories:
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Functionalism
*August Comte
*Emile Durkheim
*Herbert Spencer
Max Weber
Conflict Theory
*Karl Marx
*Max Weber
Georg Simmel
Symbolic Interaction
*George Herbert Mead
*Charles Horton Cooley
Social Exchange Theory
*George Simmel
Adam Smith
Phenomenology
*Alfred Schutz
Edmund Husserl
Critical Theory
Karl Marx
Max Weber
Multi-Cultural Theory
*W.E.B. DuBois
*Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Why these people?
1) Important time and played a central role
in creating sociology and sociological
theory.
2) Ideas continue to be relevant to
sociology today.
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