300011 Tricks of the Trade: Sociological Theorizing (S) (WiSe 2016/2017)

You’re looking for a research question for your master thesis or another research paper? You already have one but are currently looking for ways to specify it further? You are stuck in the middle of your work, looking for an inspiring twist to your research question or theoretical approach? Such problems can be summarized under the title “sociological heuristics”, since they all deal with the challenge to find and define new, productive questions. In other words, they do not deal with “theory” (as a finished product) but with “theorizing” (as an open process). In the university, we are often on our own with such problems. This course is supposed to offer opportunities to discuss your project with others and look for possible solutions together, drawing on the advice of more experienced scholars. Our main inspiration will be books of three sociologists who have been thinking and writing about such questions for years: Howard S. Becker’s “Tricks of the Trade” (1998), Andrew Abbott’s “Methods of Discovery” (2004), and Richard Swedberg’s “The Art of Social Theory” (2014). The main aims of the seminar are twofold: First, it shall help you advance your work on a current research project; second, it shall support you in finding an individual approach to such challenges that fits your personality and working habits.

Bibliography

• Abbott, Andrew: Methods of Discovery. Heuristics for the Social Sciences, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004
• Becker, Howard S.: Tricks of the Trade: How to Think About Your Research While Your’re Doing It, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998
• Swedberg, Richard: The Art of Social Theory, Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2014