Homework Clinic
Social Science Clinic => Law and Politics => Topic started by: dongbo on May 19, 2022
-
Question 1
What attracts people to the development of general or grand theory?
Question 2
How does theoretical elaboration differ from theoretical integration?
-
Answer 1
- General theories are grand perspectives that purport to account for all types of crime and deviance, often across time and space.
- Seeks to explain crime "in general" and in total and address "what makes society possible?"
- Some sociologists argue the utility of explaining crime through general or grand theories (functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict stratification).
Answer 2
- Theoretical elaboration-an approach to theory building that entails extending existing theory by considering what new variables might be added for a more complete explanation
- Realize greater levels of explanation and predictability of crime through linking and fusing the most salient features of independent theories
- Requires neither the introduction of totally new ideas nor the resolution of differences across theories
- Extend and specify a theory
- Theoretical integration - an approach to a theory building that incorporates key elements of two or more existing theories
- More focused on specific concepts being regrouped or absorbed under a larger concept
- Marks the development toward a more comprehensive framework wherein a broader range of crime and deviance can be related to fundamental causal components