Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Sociology 91
written text, the size of cities in a country, and the income of its citizens show a
comparable distribution. Various types of analytical reflection should really
be looked upon as stages on the road to theory in the stricter sense. However,
it has become habitual among sociologists to use the word theory in a more
liberal sense, and there is no harm in accepting this habit as long as terminolog-
ical confusion is avoided.
The first trend I have selected to report reflects the whole situation very well.
Robert K. Merton has originated an idea which has found great international
approval, the theories of the middle As the name indicates, it is an
appeal to remain on a level of analysis which goes beyond fact finding, but also
avoids grandiose speculations which at no point are linked to observation of
reality.
My report then turns to a second development, a rather portentous confron-
tation. The history of the world has been changed by the indirect effects of a
theory: Marxism. Its power was so great that for some time the countries under
its sway refrained from any empirical social inquiries. For a number of reasons
this situation has changed and in all Communist countries sociology in the Wes-
tern sense in now accepted. But this has not happened without reservations. At
certain points Marxist formulation has been modified so that a place for em-
pirical work could be found, and Western sociology in turn is bound to profit
from this encounter. In my analysis I have tried to bring out the positive aspects
of this turn of affairs.25
The third topic to be taken up in this section might be the most characteristic
one for the contemporary scene. The theory most extensively and continuously
discussed in the sociological literature is functionalism. And yet, it is almost
impossible to establish what functionalism is. Its very popularity is best ex-
plained by the many forms it can take on, thus symbolizing the quest for, rather
than the nature of, social theory. The majority of modern sociologists think of
themselves as ‘functionalists, but...’. Again I shall try to extract the positive
consequences of this trend.
Finally, I shall place the idea of a critical sociology in its historical context.
The reason for this effort has been briefly explained in the general introduction.
Theories of the middle range
Empirical findings are usually given in terms of co-variations between a num-
ber of variates. Thus, €or instance, it was found during World War n that sol-
diers with college educations withstood the hardships of war better than less
educated men. This crude but surprising observation can be interpreted in a
variety of ways. A plausible one is as follows: people who are able to be more
flexible in coping with difficulties wil stand up better under stress; higher educa-
tion provides this ability. In this broader form, the result is usually called an
empirical generalization because it is likely to subsume additional low-level
findings in areas other than military life.
One can go a step further and reach the level of a theory of the middle range.
Such a theory might read as follows: in Western societies social stratification
maintains itself by a variety of social mechanisms: inheritance of wealth, per-