Читать книгу Contemporary Sociological Theory - Группа авторов - Страница 24

Contemporary sociological theory is enormously diverse and multifaceted. It includes macroscopic studies of the structures of power, production, and trade that link and separate countries. It includes studies of interpersonal relations that emphasize both the process of communication and the formal structure of networks. And, it includes a variety of levels of analysis in between.

No single theory or perspective is dominant. Contemporary sociological theory includes a variety of contending but also often complementary perspectives and is informed by work in various neighboring disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. While any particular sociologist may make more use of feminist theory or rational choice theory or some other specific approach in his or her analyses, almost all draw on several theoretical traditions. These include both classical and more recent theoretical writings. Indeed, all contemporary theories draw on some combination of classical influences, though some of today’s theorists follow more in the line of Marx, others Weber, and still others Durkheim or Mead.

That different theories can complement each other does not mean that they always fit neatly together. On the contrary, theories often start with different assumptions about human nature or about the nature of knowledge (epistemology); they frequently focus on different levels of social reality. These differences mean that fitting them together in any specific analysis always requires creative work and decisions. Theory is something to do, not simply to read. The theoretical resources available to today’s sociologists are enormous, but this does not mean that theoretical work can stop.