Hossein Abolhasan Tanhaei's Lecture: What Is Theoretical Sociology?

The first meeting of the Theoretical Sociology Group, titled “A Dialogue on the Nature of Theoretical Sociology” and featuring a lecture by Dr. H. A. Tanhaei, was held on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, in the conference hall of the Iranian Sociological Association. At the beginning of the session, after a brief description of the activities of the former, inactive Theoretical Sociology group and the introduction of the group's director and new board members, which was established with the collaboration of Dr. Ghaneirad, the group's secretary posed three fundamental questions in this field of sociology to emphasize mutual understanding among members through dialogue among the session's participants. After members responded to the three questions—the difference between theoretical sociology and sociological theories, the necessity of addressing the principles of sociology, and the reason for separating school-specific and trans-school (analytical) concepts—the group director, Dr. Tanhaei, began his lecture. He commenced his discussion by addressing the history of theoretical sociology in America, which was named by Robert Merton in 1968, and said: In Iran, formal work in theoretical sociology began with the writing of the book Theoretical Sociology in 2003, although preliminary work had started in the second edition of An Introduction to Schools and Theories in 1995. In 2005, the “Challenges of Theoretical Sociology” session was held at the Iranian Sociological Association, where I announced that the book Theoretical Sociology had been overlooked by sociology professors. The separation of school-specific and trans-school (analytical) concepts is one of the most important topics in theoretical sociology, upon whose understanding the correct reading and explanation of sociological theories depends. The foundations of separating school-specific and trans-school concepts were discussed with Merton's emphasis on the dual or multiple meanings of the concept of function, followed by Collins's raising of the dual meaning of the concept of conflict, and the separation of polar, single-method dialectics from multi-method dialectics by Gurvitch, and Boden and Bourricaud, similar to other concepts like structure and order. The Nature of Theoretical Sociology 2 Dr. Tanhaei added: Theoretical sociology is a trans-school domain within sociology in which any sociologist, regardless of their paradigmatic orientation, can be active. However, some relationships can be found between this domain and theoretical paradigms. For example, the methodology of the interpretive paradigm is naturalistic and views study as the researcher's entry into the field of study with a realist, inductive, and action-research experience. Marx was the first to attribute this method of study to Darwin and considered distancing oneself from abstract concepts and gathering empirical data as the scientific method. After Marx, Blumer also traced the lineage of the inductive and naturalistic method to Darwin and considered deductive propositions as superfluous additions and stereotypes that must be set aside. The director of the Theoretical Sociology Group continued: Generally, theoretical sociology and sociological theories can be distinguished from each other by the difference in their subject of study. The subject of study for sociological theories is the social problem, whereas the subject of study for theoretical sociology is sociological theories themselves, a study that requires setting aside superstitions and stereotypes along with presenting a method of study. Building a theoretical framework requires contexts such as critique, correction, and editing, a need that is met in theoretical sociology. This platform for the critique and editing of sociological theories is provided within theoretical sociology. The Nature of Theoretical Sociology 3 Continuing the session, Dr. Tanhaei addressed statics and dynamics as two inseparable parts of theories, where statics deals with the study of a historical cross-section and dynamics with the study of the process of societal transformation, and said: The important point is the separation of statics from staticism, and dynamics from dynamicism. In fact, statics and dynamics relate to a methodological perspective, while staticism and dynamicism relate to an ontological perspective. Therefore, theoretical sociology is a strategy and method for studying sociological theories, which utilizes six methods: theoretical genealogy, theoretical epistemology, theoretical critique, theoretical editing, theoretical synthesis, and theoretical movement.

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Audio of the Lecture: The Nature of Theoretical Sociology

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What Is Theoretical Sociology?

Speaker: Hossein Abolhasan Tanhaei

October 18, 2016

Lecture Hall of the Iranian Sociological Association

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