Theorizing in sociology: postpositivist typology of J. Berger, M. Zelditch Jr. and D. Wagner

Abstract

The article presents an explication of the post-positivist typology of theoretical activity in sociology. J. Berger, M. Zelditch and D. Wagner argued for this typology in a set of their publications. They distinguished such types: unit theories of social phenomena, theoretical / orienting strategies, working substantive / methodological strategies for theories construction, theoretical research programs, empirical models. The functions of each of these types were determined within the framework of the theoretical research program. Orienting strategies are broad fundamental directives that provide value-ideological assumptions for the justification of working research strategies. Working strategies define what the core ideas of the research program should be, what questions should be raised by researchers and how they should be investigated within the program framework. In particular, substantive working strategies specify how social phenomena should be defined and conceptualized, what theoretical problems should be solved, and what conceptual tools should be used in doing so. Methodological working strategies specify how unit theories should be developed and what methodological tools should be used to test them. Unit theories are the form in which generated conceptual solutions to researched questions are constituted. Empirical models specify various cases of the studied social phenomena, identify methods of observation and procedures for measuring their manifestations. Within a scientific research program, different types of theorizing interact and complement each other. The growth of sociological knowledge is considered a consequence of this interaction and mutual complementation. As a result, Berger, Zelditch and Wagner significantly expanded the meaning of the concept of a scientific research program in the theoretical context of sociological science. The post-positivist typology of sociological theorizing has become a conceptual tool for empirically identifying trends and patterns of theoretical growth in sociology.