ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a contribute towards a sharper delineation of the Sociological Analysis. It focuses on a crucial element in informal fact-finding, the role of 'pragmatic knowledge'. There have been a number of new developments in the methodology of social science. One of them is the emergence of a new field, vaguely called 'sociological analysis'. In general the emancipation of sociological analysis as a separate approach seems largely a consequence of the growing recognition that there is no longer a clear difference between empirical and theoretical modes of sociological inquiry. Much of the impact of Mills's exhortations was due to the fact that in the practice of sociological investigation the crucial interaction between fact-finding and theorising had never been seriously questioned. But despite the growing concern with questions of sociological analysis and the growing conviction that a new 'style' of sociological thinking is emerging, much of it remains obscure and ineffective on account of a number of technical difficulties.
