THEORY CONSTRUCTION
THEORY?
A contested concept:
Six different sociological perceptions of what is theory (Merton 1945; cited in Swedberg 2014: 16-17).
A functionalist definition:
“Logically interconnected sets of propositions from which empirical uniformities can be derived...
[established via] empirically testable hypotheses” (Merton 1945 & 1967; cited in Swedberg 2014: 16)
-> Abstract, separated from empirical reality or action
A pragmatist definition:
“A statement about the explanation of a phenomenon” (Swedberg 2014: 17; following Peirce)
-> Derived from activity, from engagement with the empirical reality
THEORIZING
From Theory to Theorizing
Theorizing: “the process through which a theory is produced.” (Swedberg 2014: 17)
Theorizing is a practical, intellectual skill
Theorizing entails trying to understand social phenomena by thinking about possible descriptions,
interpretations and explanations
Theorizing could rely on or be inspired by existing theories and concepts, but it is mainly aimed to
develop new theories and concepts
THEORIZING IN BRIEF
A common move in social scientific research: Can theory X explain phenomenon Y?
Theorizing: How can phenomenon Y help us re-shape theory X or develop theory Z?
Race is significant to describe the experiences of U.S. Black women
-> but it is not the only significant concept: “class, gender, sexuality, religion and citizenship status all
matter greatly in the United States.”
o Patricia Hill Collins 1990: 52 To be further discussed next week
-> A need arises to reconstruct theory - an intersectional approach is developed
Main aim of the course: how can we engage in creative and useful theorizing?
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,THEORIZING IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
WHAT CAN BE QUALIFIED AS SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS?
From: Édouard Louis, The end of Eddy:
While I was spending my time at the bus stop, other children like her, Amélie, were reading books their parents
had given them, were going to the movies, even to the theater. In the evenings their parents spoke about
literature, about history— a conversation between Amélie and her mother about Eleanor of Aquitaine had left
me white with shame—while they ate their dinner.
At my parents’ house we didn’t have dinner; we ate. Most of the time, in fact, the verb we used was bouffer,
chow down. My father’s daily call was Come and get it, let’s chow down. When, years later, I say have dinner in
front of my parents, they will make fun of me Listen to him talk, all full of himself. You can see what’s
happened, he’s gone off to that fancy school and now he thinks he’s a gentleman, he’s going to philosophize for
us.
Now I learn—
something I had already suspected,
that had already crossed my mind.
Here boys kiss each other on each cheek when they say bonjour, they don’t shake hands
They carry leather satchels
They have gentle manners
They would all have been called fags at my middle school
Bourgeois people don’t exhibit the same kind of bodily habits
They don’t define virility the way my father did, the way the men at the factory did
(this will be even more apparent at the École Normale, all those feminine bodies belonging to middle-class
intellectuals)
SOCIOLOGY AS AN INDIVIDUAL PASTIME?
Sociology can be seen as similar to certain genres of literature, cinema (or tv), visual art or journalism:
it tries to capture human experience in a social context and make sense of it
Cf. Ragin & Amoroso: The social sciences are just “one among many ways of constructing
representations of social life – of telling about society”
We also try to decipher social codes and how we should relate to them in everyday interactions.
Sociology can be seen as an “individual pastime” or a “passion” (P. Berger)
o Someting that you are passionate about or like to do
o But P. Berger adds that what makes sociology uhnique, is that it is scientific
o There is someting more than “individual pastime”
The difference: sociology aims to do it in a scientific manner
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,THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
Mills wrote about the sociological imagination as one basic characteristic of sociology
The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the
two within society.
o Biography: about the individual, our individual story/narrative/experiences
o History: historical developments like technological innovations
o Relations between both
The capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate
features of the human self – and to see the relations between the two.
The individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself
within his period.
“Now I learn—
something I had already suspected, that had already crossed my mind.”
BOURDIEU’S HABITUS AS AN EXAMPLE
Habitus:
Is about our behavior: determines what we do, what we like, ...
Acquired through socialization, and ingrained in the individual body
Habitus is connected to our biography; “the most intimate features of the human self” (Mills)
But also characterizes social groupings (e.g. a particular class), constructs an identidty and coherence
to these groups and enables their reproduction across time (and generations)
History; “the most impersonal and remote transformations” (Mills)
So it’s a concept that connects biography with history
Bourgeois people don’t exhibit the same kind of bodily habits
They don’t define virility the way my father did, the way the men at the factory did
(this will be even more apparent at the École Normale, all those feminine bodies belonging to middle-class
intellectuals)
THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION
The sociological imagination connects personal troubles with public issues:
Troubles are personal, at the level of the individual. They are related to immediate or intimate
relations and to what we perceive as ‘private’ affairs.
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, Public Issues: what happens beyond the private sphere, within and between social groups,
organizations, institutions, structures...
Mills: The example of marriage
Personal troubles among married couples
When divorce rates are rising, it may become a public issue: Is there a structural problem in the
institution of marriage?
What are the reasons for and outcomes of these ‘personal troubles’?
Was the early foundation of feminist theory: The personal is the political
o Women started to come together and discuss their personal troubles
o They started to see that their personal troubles were not so personal
Nancy Fraser: challenging the private-public distinction
Me too movement: more contemporary example
HOW SOCIAL RESEARCH DIFFERS
Based on Ragin & Amoroso (2010): 24-32
What distinguishes social-scientific research from other ways of telling and thinking about society?
It addresses socially significant phenomena
Engages directly or indirectly with social theories
Incorporates large amounts of appropriate evidence
Its results emerge from a systematic analysis of this evidence
Social scientific inquiry addresses socially significant phenomena.
But which phenomena should be counted as socially significant?
General issues, rather than personal troubles
o I failed in an exam vs. students with a similar (class/ethnic/gender) background to mine are
more likely to fail in exams
A rare or unusual phenomenon
o A school where all students succeed in the exams: How does it happen? What is the impact
on the students, on their families, on social life in the school...?
A historically significant phenomenon
o How does the closure that Israel imposes on the Gaza Strip affect the educational possibilities
of Palestinian children? How may this ‘educational deficit’ affect the Palestinian people as a
whole and the geo-political reality in the Middle East?
Social scientific inquiry engages directly or indirectly with social theories
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