Generally Speaking

In this invitation to concept-driven sociology defying the conventional split between theory and methodology (as well as between quantitative and qualitative research) Eviatar Zerubavel introduces a yet unarticulated Simmelian method of theorizing specifically designed to reveal fundamental often hidden social patterns. Insisting that it can actually be taught he examines the theoretico-methodological process (revolving around the epistemic and analytical acts of focusing generalizing exampling and analogizing) by which concept-driven researchers can distill generic social patterns from the culturally historically and domain-specific contexts in which they encounter them empirically. Disregarding conventionally noted substantive variability in order to uncover conventionally disregarded formal commonalities <em>Generally Speaking</em> draws on cross-cultural cross-historical cross-domain and cross-level analogies in an effort to reveal formal parallels across disparate contexts. Using numerous examples from culturally and historically diverse contexts and a wide range of social domains while also disregarding scale Zerubavel thus introduces a pronouncedly transcontextual generic sociology.<br>