Introduction and Further Reading

Abstract

It is appropriate now to revert to the theme of Chapter 1 and to ask what one can say in general about the relationship between theory, method and substance in sociological research. Two types of answer are possible, and these will be considered in turn. The first is in terms of the logic of scientific explanation, the second in terms of the practice of theorising.

Be a good craftsman. Avoid any rigid set of procedures. Above all, seek to develop and use the sociological imagination. Avoid the fetishism of methods and technique. Urge the rehabilitation of the unpretentious intellectual craftsman, and try to become such a craftsman yourself. Let every man be his own methodologist; let every man be his own theorist; let theory and method again become part of the practice of a craft (C. Wright Mills [1959] p. 224.)