ABSTRACT
Theory is the basis of all real social science research. While it may seem as if researchers are just crunching numbers or doing interviews, their research is actually guided by motivating theories or paradigms. These theories tell researchers which questions to ask and which methodologies to use and guide them in creating their hypotheses. The basis for the way in which social scientists study the world is positivism, which can be seen as a very high-level paradigm. Positivism in the social sciences comes from the work of Auguste Comte, a 19th-century French philosopher. Conflict theory began as a critique of structural functionalism, especially with regard to social inequality. Feminist theory is a derivative of conflict theory but is differentiated because of its focus on understanding the world through the eyes of just one historically repressed group: women. One of the most widespread of these applications is critical race theory, which focuses on conflict and inequality among racial and ethnic groups.
