The Development of sociological thinking

The Development of sociological thinking 

• When they start studying sociology many students are puzzled by the diversity of perspective they encounter. Sociology has never been a discipline where a single body of idea's is accepted as valid by everyone, though there have been times when some theories have been more widely accepted than others. Sociologist often disagree about how to study human behaviour and how research findings should be interpreted. This is quite normal and part of all scientific subjects. However, unlike physics or chemistry, sociology involves studying ourselves, and this can severely challenge our long-held views and attitudes. Sociology can be unsettling and disturbing. Nonetheless, we have to make every effort to set aside our emotional and political commitments while we are in the process of  'doing sociology'.

     Theories and theoretical perspectives

• It is in fact that I brought a cup of coffee this morning, that it cost a certain amount of money and that the coffee beans used to make it were grown in Central America. But in sociology we also want to know why things happen. To do so, we have to construct theories which explain the facts. For instance, we know that many millions of people now use the internet and social media to stay in touch with friends or maintain an online diary. But this is a very recent development. How did social media come about and why do so many people use them? Why are  younger people more likely to use social media than older people? What impact are social media likely to have on either forms of communication? To address such questions, we need theories.

• Theorizing means constructing abstract interpretation using a series of logically related statement that explain a wide variety of empirical or 'factual' situation. A theory about social media, for example, would be concerned with identifying how communication technology has developed over time and what the prerequisites were for the success of the new media. In the best sociology, factual research and explanatory theories are closely related. We can only develop valid theoretical explanations if we are able to test them by means of empirical research. Contrary to popular belief, facts do not speak for themselves, they need to be interpreted. Many sociologists work primarily on factual research, but unless they are guided by some knowledge of theory, their work is unlikely to be able to explain the complexity they find. This is true even of research carried out with strictly practical objectives. 

• Many 'practical people' are suspicious of theorists and may see themselves are too ' down to earth' to pay any attention to such abstract ideas. Yet all practical decision make some theoretical assumptions. The manager of a bussiness, for example, might have no regard for 'theory'. Nonetheless, she might think that employees are motivated by money to work hard. This is, of course, a simple underlying theoretical interpretation of human behaviour, which the manager takes for granted without realizing it.
• Without a theoretical approach, we do not even know what to look for when beginning a study or interpreting results at the end of the research. But the interpretation of factual evidence is not the only reason for theorizing. Theoretical thinking must also respond to general problem of how social life can and should be studied. Should sociological methods be modelled on the natural science? How can we conceptualize human consciousness, social action and institutions? How can sociologist avoid introducing personal bias into their research? Should they even try? There are no easy answer to such question, and they have been answered in different ways since the emergence of sociology in the nineteenth century.