I really like this idea – see the full post here. I was always quite taken with the method for social ontology which Dave Elder-Vass elaborated for what I think were quite similar reasons. There’s far too much attention paid to theory and far too little attention paid to theorising.
Following this, Swedberg suggested that learning to theorise can only be done effectively through concrete exercises, and so he spoke about how he helps students to do so in the course he runs at Cornell. Beginning with the instruction to go and observe any social phenomenon, ideally one that they are not familiar with, Swedberg listed the steps he encourages his students to work through (with the stipulation that they must ‘construct theories to suit facts not facts to suit theories’):
- Step 1: Observe; learn something about the topic before theorising
- Step 2: Name the phenomenon
- Step 3: Use and develop one/several concepts; develop a hybrid concept
- Step 4: Push further – perhaps use a metaphor, an analogy, a typology, a classification; try to build in process
- Step 5: Come up with an explanation, rather than a description only
Mark Carrigan 