Theory

Meta Theory

A metatheory or meta-theory is a theory whose subject matter is some theory. All fields of research share some meta-theory, regardless whether this is explicit or correct. In a more restricted and specific sense, in mathematics and mathematical logic, metatheory means a mathematical theory about another mathematical theory.

The following is an example of a meta-theoretical statement:

“Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis; you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory.”

Meta-theoretical investigations are generally part of philosophy of science. Also a metatheory is an object of concern to the area in which the individual theory is conceived.

Grand Theory

A Grand theory refers to any theory that attempts to offer an overall explanation of history, social life and the human experience. The grand theory is normally compared and differentiated with empiricism positivism, which opines that understanding can only be achieved through studying societies and phenomenon.

Grand Theory is a term invented by the American sociologist C. Wright Mills in The Sociological Imagination to refer to the form of highly abstract theorizing in which the formal organization and arrangement of concepts takes priority over understanding the social world. In his view, Grand Theory was more or less separated from the concrete concerns of everyday life and its variety in time and space.

The main target of Mills was Talcott Parsons, also an American sociologist and the architect of structural functionalism, against whom he insisted that there is no Grand Theory in the sense of one universal scheme to understand the unity of social structures, according to Gregory. In Parsons view "grand theory" integrated not only sociological concepts, but also psychological, economic, political, and religious or philosophical components. He tried to integrate all the social sciences within an overarching theoretical framework.

By the 1980s the Grand Theory was reformulated and included theories such as; critical theory, structuralism, structural Marxism, and Structuration Theory, all influenced human geography. Barnes and Gregory confirmed this and noticed in addition; “No matter the phenomenon investigated, it could always be slotted into a wider theoretical scheme. Nothing would be left out; everything would be explained.”

According to Gregory there are two critical responses to this (reformulated) Grand Theory. First there has been a continuing debate about the scope of theory in human geography, with the focus on the relation between theory and empiricism. Wherein some authors thought of a ‘theory-less world of empiricism’, in contrast to others which foresaw a fixation upon theory, meaning the threat of the ‘theorization of theories’, second order abstractions ‘doubly removed from the empirical world’. Secondly, that no single theoretical system can possibly ask all the interesting questions or provide all the satisfying answers.

Substantive Theory

A substantive theory may be constructed within the process of identifying differences and similarities of contextualized instances, and patterns, across and within case studies focused on a similar theme. The content of substantive theory is mainly descriptive, focused on the essence, or substance, of the numerous case instances in a parsimonious relational structure. In the construction of substantive theory the theorizer seeks to enhance understanding by identifying similarities and differences of contextualized instances across and within case studies focused on a similar theme. For the most part the instances include an element of intentionality. Suppose a researcher has collected many case studies on a common theme, say, unemployment or public housing or school principals. He reads these and notes instances and patterns of similarity and difference as well as instances that seem to relate only and specifically to a particular case study.

Middle Range Theory

Middle-range theory, developed by Robert K. Merton, is an approach to sociological theorizing aimed at integrating theory and empirical research. It is currently the de facto dominant approach to sociological theory construction, especially in the United States. Middle-range theory starts with an empirical phenomenon (as opposed to a broad abstract entity like the social system) and abstracts from it to create general statements that can be verified by data. This approach stands in contrast to the earlier "grand" theorizing of social theory, such as functionalism and many conflict theories. Raymond Boudon has argued that "middle-range theory" is the same concept that most other sciences simply call 'theory'. The analytical sociology movement has as its aim the unification of such theories into a coherent paradigm at a greater level of abstraction.

Sociological theory, if it is to advance significantly, must proceed on these interconnected planes: 1. by developing special theories from which to derive hypotheses that can be empirically investigated and 2. by evolving a progressively more general conceptual scheme that is adequate to consolidate groups of special theories.

— Robert K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure

History

The midrange approach was developed by Robert Merton as a departure from the general social theorizing of Talcott Parsons. Merton agreed with Parsons that a narrow empiricism consisting entirely of simple statistical or observational regularities cannot arrive at successful theory. However, he found that Parsons' "formulations were remote from providing a problematic and a direction for theory-oriented empirical inquiry into the observable worlds of culture and society". He was thus directly opposed to the abstract theorizing of scholars who are engaged in the attempt to construct a total theoretical system covering all aspects of social life. With the introduction of the middle range theory program, he advocated that sociologists should concentrate on measurable aspects of social reality that can be studied as separate social phenomena, rather than attempting to explain the entire social world. He saw both the middle-range theory approach and middle-range theories themselves as temporary: when they matured, as natural sciences already had, the body of middle range theories would become a system of universal laws; but, until that time, social sciences should avoid trying to create a universal theory.

Merton's original foil in the construction was Talcott Parsons, whose action theory Merton classified as a "grand theory". (Parsons vehemently rejected this categorization.) Middle range theories are normally constructed by applying theory building techniques to empirical research, which produce generic propositions about the social world, which in turn can also be empirically tested. Examples of middle range theories are theories of reference groups, social mobility, normalization processes, role conflict and the formation of social norms. The middle-range approach has played a key role in turning sociology into an increasingly empirically-oriented discipline. This was also important in post-war thought.

In the post-war period, middle-range theory became the dominant approach to theory construction in all variable-based social sciences. Middle range theory has also been applied to the archaeological realm by Lewis R. Binford, and to financial theory by Harvard Business School Professor Robert C. Merton, Robert K. Merton's son.

In the recent decades, the analytical sociology program has emerged as an attempt synthesizing middle-range theories into a more coherent abstract framework (as Merton had hoped would eventually happen). Peter Hedstrom at Oxford is the scholar most associated with this approach, while Peter Bearman is its most prominent American advocate.