Metatheory Essay ⋆ Sociology Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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A metatheory is a broad perspective that overarches two, or more, theories. There are many metatheories — positivism, postpositivism, hermeneutics, and so on — of importance in sociology and other social sciences. Two of the best known and most important are methodological holism and methodological individualism.

A particularly useful term to use in thinking about metatheories is Thomas Kuhn’s famous notion of a paradigm. In fact, a paradigm is broader than a metatheory because it encompasses not only theories, but also methods, images of the subject matter of sociology, and a body of work that serves as an exemplar for those who work within the paradigm.

The social facts paradigm derives its name and orientation from the work of Emile Durkheim and his contention that sociology should involve the study of social facts that are external to and coercive over individuals. The two major theories subsumed under this heading are structural functionalism and conflict theory, and to a lesser extent systems theory. The social definition paradigm derives its name from W. I. Thomas’s ”definition of the situation.” Symbolic interactionism is a theoretical component of the social definition paradigm, as is ethnomethodology. Finally, there is the social behavior paradigm, adopting a focus on behavior from the psychological behaviorists. Exchange theory and rational choice would be included in this paradigm.

The relatively narrow macro (social facts) and micro (social definition and social behavior) foci of extant paradigms led to the delineation of a more integrated sociological paradigm. Marx and his dialectical approach are taken as the exemplar of this approach and this paradigm can be seen as encompassing the micro—macro and agency—structure theories mentioned above.

Metatheorizing can be seen as a specific form of metasociology that examines sociological theory. While sociological theorizing attempts to make sense of the social world, metatheorizing attempts to make sense of sociological theorizing. As with other forms of metastudy, reflexivity is a crucial component of sociological metatheorizing. Metasociology encompasses not only metatheorizing, but also meta-methods and meta-data-analysis. A wide variety of work can be included under the heading of sociological metatheorizing. There are three varieties of metatheorizing, largely defined by differences in their end products — metatheorizing as a means of attaining a deeper understanding of theory (Mu),” metatheorizing as a prelude to theory development (Mp),” and metatheorizing as a source of overarching theoretical perspectives (Mo)” (Ritzer 1975).

The prevalence of metatheorizing in sociology is rooted in the fact that sociologists deal with culturally diverse and historically specific subjects. The failure to discover universal truths and invariant laws of the social world has informed many metatheoretical efforts. The clashes of multiple paradigms competing in the realm of sociological theorizing create a perfect condition for the emergence of metatheoretical discourse.

The coming of age of metatheorizing in American sociology can be traced to the collapse of the dominant social facts paradigm during the 1960s. That paradigm, especially its major theoretical component, Parsonsian functionalism, had dominated

American sociology for more than two decades before it was seriously challenged by rival paradigms, as well as critics from a wide range of other perspectives. The emergence of a multiparadigmatic structure in sociology in the late 1960s reflected the growing disunity of the discipline and increasingly fragmented sociological research. There emerged a widespread feeling that sociology was facing a profound crisis. It was this sense of imminent disciplinary crisis that helped to invigorate meta-analyses of all types. A more recent challenge and spur to metatheorizing is the rise of postmodern social theory. Since the latter involves an assault on rationality and the modern orientation and metatheorizing is both modern and rational, it has come to be questioned by postmodernists. On the other hand, postmodernism has provided metatheorists with a whole series of new tools (e.g. deconstruction) and approaches with which to study theory.

Bibliography:

Kuhn, T. (1970) The Structure ofScientific Revolutions, 2nd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Ritzer, G. (1975) Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science. Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA.
Ritzer, G., Zhao, S., & Murphy, J. (2001) Metatheorizing in sociology: the basic parameters and the potential contributions of postmodernism. In: Turner, J. (ed.), Handbook ofSociological Theory. Kluwer, New York, pp. 113—31.