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2.1: Of Theories and Bicycles

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    324816
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    Sociology is the study of human social activity in relation to social institutions. To illustrate this activity, if one were to study something as common as your average bicycle, you may think about how the different parts of the bicycle are related. Consider the following statement as a theoretical interpretation of how a bicycle operates:

    The different parts of the bicycle are used together to help a person get from point A to point B. The seat is used to sit on. The handlebars steer the direction of the bike. The sprocket is attached to peddles that are to be spun by your legs and feet, and the tires are turned by the motion of the sprocket. If a person uses a bike in this way, that person will, in theory, get from point A to point B.

    In this theory, the parts of the bicycle are used together to transport a person from one place to another. However, this is just a theory. This does not take into consideration whether the tires have air or the seat is comfortable to sit on. Additionally, this theory doesn’t consider some of the human-related challenges that will affect the objective of getting from point A to point B, like whether a person has two legs, good balance, is impaired, and the like. More, this theory does not consider whether there is pathway that will accommodate bicycle, much less an accessible road to ride on. Rather, the theory only provides an idea of how and perhaps why certain bicycle-specific facts are related, end when in place, how they may facilitate movement between two locations.

    Social theory can be thought of in the same way. Theories that are used to study society help to interpret how and why specific facts are related. For example, if we were studying how and why the different parts of marriage are related, we may look at these different parts and try to make sense of their meanings. To do so, we may break these parts up into two categories: (1) material and (2) non-material facts. Material facts might include the wedding ring, marriage certificate, tax statuses, etc. While the non-material facts might include the notions of love, affection, caring for one another, etc. Some social theories would say that marriage works out well, perhaps citing how these social facts work together. While others may say that it’s an old system used to control people and distract them from the important realties of social life. While still others would say that marriage is merely a system of symbols and actions that produce a certain kind of culture. Again, these are simply theories, and it would be the task of the sociologist to test these theories as they apply to the intersection of human social interaction and social institutions.


    This page titled 2.1: Of Theories and Bicycles is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Salvador Jiménez Murguía.

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