Editing Social theory (section)

{{Short description|Framework used to study social phenomena}}
{{redirect|Social analysis|the journal|Social Analysis (journal)}}
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{{Sociology}}
'''Social theories''' are analytical frameworks, or [[paradigm]]s, that are used to study and interpret [[social phenomenon|social phenomena]].<ref name="auto">Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons.</ref> A tool used by [[social scientists]], social theories relate to historical debates over the validity and reliability of different [[methodology|methodologies]] (e.g. [[positivism]] and [[antipositivism]]), the primacy of either [[structure or agency]], as well as the relationship between [[contingency (philosophy)|contingency]] and necessity. Social theory in an informal nature, or authorship based outside of academic social and political science, may be referred to as "[[social criticism]]" or "[[social commentary]]", or "[[cultural critic]]ism" and may be associated both with formal [[cultural studies|cultural]] and [[literary criticism|literary]] scholarship, as well as other non-academic or journalistic forms of writing.<ref name="auto" />