SOCY 226 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Theory
22 Jan 2018
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We we will focus on north american and european societies in the 20th century (up to 1970s) We all use theory all the time: theory is an attempt to explain our everyday experience of the world. Theory can tell us something new about the world: the explanation for our experience might be something we have not directly experience at all. Social theory is employed: to explain and understand our experience on the basis of other experiences and general ideas about the world. Social theory needs to be systematic: general ideas should be subject too logic, be consistent, and analyzed in terms of their ability to explain. Social theory is often counter-intuitive: its propositions are often off with our immediate experience and beliefs, and that is how we learn. Tools of thought that help us to conceive and classify experience. What do race, class or social mean, says who and for what purpose.
