ABSTRACT
The uses of sociological theory for the investigation and explanation of social phenomena seem to the author largely of two interrelated kinds. Theories sensitize the investigator as to what to look at and what to eschew in the quest for systematic knowledge. One of the major functions of theory is to order experience with the help of concepts and to select relevant aspects and data among the enormous multitude of ‘facts’ that confront any investigator of social phenomena. To summarize: one of the major uses of theories and sets of theoretically derived concepts is to sensitize research to investigate data and phenomena that have hitherto remained in obscurity. Once such ‘theory-soaked’ sets of data have been identified and extracted from inchoate reality, it becomes possible to establish relationships between them, to discover associations or uniformities.
