Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Lars E.F. Johannessen Profile picture
@LarsJohannessen
Aug 15, 2022 • 23 tweets • 8 min read • Read on X
Sociology has seen increased interest in *theorizing*: the practical work of developing theory.

Having recently immersed myself in this literature, I decided to make a list of 20 of my favorite publications🧵⬇️

#SocTwitter #AcademicTwitter
BOOKS

Swedberg - The Art of Social Theory

The most obvious reference on this list. Discusses every aspect of theorizing, from observation and naming to concept formation and explanation

press.princeton.edu/books/hardcove…
Tavory & Timmermans - Abductive Analysis

Lays out the epistemological and methodological basis for 'abductive analysis', one of the more exciting approaches to theory-development

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…
Abbott - Methods of Discovery

Overflowing with techniques for how to come up with innovate research questions and arguments

amazon.com/Methods-Discov…
Becker - Tricks of the Trade

Similar to Abbott's 'Methods', this text is a treasure trove of techniques for doing cool stuff with your data

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…
Alvesson & Kärreman - Qualitative Research and Theory Development

Resembles 'Abductive Analysis' but puts more emphasis on creativity and less emphasis on 'dataistic' approaches to theory development

us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/qual…
Zerubavel - 'An invitation to concept-driven sociology'

Introduces Zerubavel's 'Simmelian' method of theorizing, designed to reveal fundamental and/or hidden social patterns

amazon.com/Generally-Spea…
@soenke_ahrens - How to Take Smart Notes

Not about theory development per se, but details the note-taking method that Niklas Luhmann used in constructing his theoretical system
amazon.com/How-Take-Smart…
JOURNAL ARTICLES

Alvesson & Sandberg - Generating research questions through problematization

Argues against 'gap finding' and proposes 'problematization' as a more fruitful methodology for generating theory-informed research questions

journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/am…
Davis - That's interesting!

Traces the differences between interesting and non-interesting theories in sociology. A classic

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00…
@HereisMears - Puzzling in Sociology

Discusses the perils and promises of 'puzzles' as drivers of sociological research

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…
Mintzberg - Developing theory about the development of theory

An essayistic reflection on Mintzberg's own approach to theorizing

elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/97…
@kjhealy - Fuck Nuance

Discusses how we can generate interesting, empirically generative, and/or practically successful theories (hint: not by way of 'nuance')

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…
Swedberg - On the use of definitions in sociology

Highlights different types of definitions and their role in sociological theorizing

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…
Vaughan - Theorizing Disaster

Details the approach to theory-development that Vaughan applied in her classic study of the Challenger Launch Decision

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.117…
SPECIAL ISSUES

. @SocTheory has devoted an entire issue to ‘good theorizing’

journals.sagepub.com/toc/stx/35/2
British Journal of Sociology has devoted an issue to discussions of Swedberg's Art of Social Theory

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14684446/2…
THE ‘THEORY’ IN ‘THEORIZING’
Since it's hard to discuss theorizing without a clear conception of theory, I close with three additional works:

First, Abend's near-canonical "The meaning of theory"

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.…
Second, Abend’s "Styles of Sociological Thought", which highlights the epistemological differences between theorizing in US and Mexican sociology

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
And finally, Sandberg and Alvesson’s "Meanings of Theory", which builds on Abend's work and distinguishes five types of theory in organization and management studies

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
That's all! Do you miss any key texts? Let me know in the comments below!
Oops, @StefanTimmerma6 and Iddo Tavory's "Data Analysis in Qualitative Research" fell out of the list. Following up on "Abductive Analysis", this book looks more closely at the practical details of *doing* an abductive analysis

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…
Looking for more key works? Check out this follow-up thread 🔥

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Lars E.F. Johannessen

Lars E.F. Johannessen Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LarsJohannessen

Lars E.F. Johannessen Profile picture
Aug 21, 2022
One of my favorite books is Interaction Ritual Chains by Randall Collins (@sociologicaleye). This sees Collins theorize interaction ritual as the micro-sociological glue of society

IRC has been reworked a lot since Collins' 2004 book. Here's a thread on five key developments 🧵
But first, why care? In short, interaction rituals (re)produce social groups and give people a sense of belonging, meaning, and vitality. Without IRs, people become depressed, demoralized, and devoid of the energy needed to maintain social life.
And what *are* interaction rituals? Simply put, they're situations where people get together, focus on the same thing, and synchronize their behavior and emotions (e.g. "deep" conversations, wedding celebrations, funerals)

With that in mind, let's move on to the studies:
Read 9 tweets
Lars E.F. Johannessen Profile picture
Aug 18, 2022
THEORIZING PART #2

Given the interest in my previous thread, I decided to follow up with 12 additional resources on theorizing.

I've also included selected community suggestions from the previous thread.

Buckle up! 🧵⬇️

#AcademicTwitter #soctwitter

BOOKS

Swedberg - Theorizing in Social Science

An anthology and follow-up to 'Art of Social Theory'. Includes chapters by key thinkers such as Karen Knorr-Cetina, Diane Vaughan, Stephen Turner, Karl Weick and James March.

degruyter.com/document/doi/1…
Reed - Interpretation and Social Knowledge

A highly ambitious work in which Reed demonstrates how to construct 'maximal interpretations' - that is, historically specific and hermeneutically rich explanations of social phenomena

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book…
Read 25 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(