ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the two approaches normally employed in building theory: invention and elaboration. In concept, invention and elaboration seem promising as methods for building adequate general theory, but they fail in practice, and they contain inherent elements that impede their ultimate potential. Invention is impractical because its success does not rest on skills that can be taught to a substantial number of scholars. It is handicapped by the possessiveness and defensiveness of its practitioners, who almost inevitably isolate and protect their products, precluding cross-fertilization. Self-control and transcendence theories illustrate these points. The practice of elaboration blinds scholars to important possibilities, and it prevents them from arriving at the best general theory. Lawrence E. Cohen's work suggested that anomie theory needed elaboration because a simple discrepancy between goals and means relevant to the larger culture will not necessarily lead to delinquency even among those who presumably have not internalized rules prohibiting illegitimate means.
