Editing Social theory (section)

== Definitions ==
[[File:What is a Social Theory?.png|right|458x458px]] 
'''Social theory''' by definition is used to make distinctions and generalizations among different types of societies, and to analyze [[modernity]] as it has emerged in the past few centuries.<ref name=Callinicos>{{cite book |title=Social Theory: A Historical Introduction |author=Callinicos, A. |year=1999 |publisher=New York University Press }}</ref>{{rp|10}},<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Roth|first1=Steffen|last2=Watson|first2=Steve|last3=Möller|first3=Sören|last4=Clausen|first4=Lars|last5=Zazar|first5=Kresimir|last6=Dahms|first6=Harry|last7=Sales|first7=Augusto|last8=Lien|first8=Vincent|year=2025|title=Guiding distinctions of social theory: Results from two online brainstormings and one quantitative analysis of the ISA Books of the XX Century corpus|journal=Current Sociology|volume=|issue=|pages=|doi=10.1177/00113921251316685|issn=1461-7064|url=https://derroth.com/2025/01/08/preview-guiding-distinctions-of-social-theory-results-from-two-online-brainstormings-and-one-quantitative-analysis-of-the-isa-books-of-the-xx-century-corpus/|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Social theory, as it is recognized today, emerged in the 20th century as a distinct discipline, and was largely equated with an attitude of critical thinking and the desire for knowledge through ''[[Empirical evidence|a posteriori]]'' methods of discovery, rather than ''[[A priori and a posteriori|a priori]]'' methods of tradition.

'''Social thought''' provides general theories to explain actions and behavior of society as a whole, encompassing [[sociology|sociological]], [[political science|political]], and [[philosophy|philosophical]] ideas. Classical social theory has generally been presented from a perspective of [[Western philosophy]], and often regarded as [[Eurocentric]].{{by whom|date=July 2018}}

'''Theory construction''', according to The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, is instrumental:
"Their goal is to promote accurate communication, rigorous testing, high accuracy, and broad applicability. They include the following: absence of contradictions, absence of ambivalence, abstractness, generality, precision, parsimony, and conditionality."<ref>Ritzer, George, ed. 2007. ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology''. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.</ref> Therefore, a social theory consists of well-defined terms, statements, arguments and scope conditions.