ABSTRACT
These two studies have attempted to demonstrate the dependence of forms of classification on the concepts and questions of definite theories. In this discussion we have questioned the status of classifications, not in order to deny the need for rigorous typifications of social forms, but in order to challenge the widely held idea that classifications are independent formal schemas which may be more or less ‘convenient’ or ‘useful’ to the researcher in ordering his material. Classification and typification are a part of theory, and not practices independent of it.
