Merton's Middle Range Theory | Lecture notes Sociology

DR. ARTI RANI E-Content 9 Sep2020

Master of Sociology

Semester-3

CC-10

Unit-1

Topic- Merton’s Middle Range Theory

The term sociological theory refers to logically interconnected sets of

propositions from which empirical uniformities can be derived. Theories that lie

between the minor but necessary working hypotheses that evolve in abundance

during day-to-day research and the all-inclusive systematic efforts to develop a

unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social

behaviour, social organization and social change.

Middle-range theory is principally used in sociology to guide empirical inquiry.

It is intermediate to general theories of social systems which .are too remote

from particular classes of social behaviour, organization and change to account

for what is observed and to those detailed orderly descriptions of particulars that

are not generalized at all. Middle-range theory involves abstractions, of course,

but they are close enough to observed data to be incorporated in propositions

that permit empirical testing. Middle-range theories deal with delimited aspects

of social phenomena, as is indicated by their labels. One speaks of a theory of

reference groups, of social mobility, or role-conflict and of the formation of

social norms just as one speaks of a theory of prices, a germ theory of disease,

or a kinetic theory of gases. The seminal ideas in such theories are

characteristically simple: consider. The initial idea thus suggests specific

hypotheses which are tested by seeing whether the inferences from them are

empirically confirmed. The the theory of reference groups and relative

deprivation starts with the simple idea, initiated by James, Baldwin, and Mead

and developed by Hyman and Stouffer, that people take the standards of

significant others as a basis for self-appraisal and evaluation. Some of the

inferences drawn from this idea are at odds with commonsense expectations

based upon an unexamined set of 'self-evident' assumptions. Common sense, for

example, would suggest that the greater the actual loss experienced by a family

in a mass disaster, the more acutely it will feel deprived. This belief is based on

the unexamined assumption that the magnitude of objective loss is related

linearly to the subjective appraisal of the loss and that this appraisal is confined

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DR. ARTI RANI E-Content 9 Sep Master of Sociology Semester- CC- Unit- Topic- Merton’s Middle Range Theory The term sociological theory refers to logically interconnected sets of propositions from which empirical uniformities can be derived. Theories that lie between the minor but necessary working hypotheses that evolve in abundance during day-to-day research and the all-inclusive systematic efforts to develop a unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social behaviour, social organization and social change. Middle-range theory is principally used in sociology to guide empirical inquiry. It is intermediate to general theories of social systems which .are too remote from particular classes of social behaviour, organization and change to account for what is observed and to those detailed orderly descriptions of particulars that are not generalized at all. Middle-range theory involves abstractions, of course, but they are close enough to observed data to be incorporated in propositions that permit empirical testing. Middle-range theories deal with delimited aspects of social phenomena, as is indicated by their labels. One speaks of a theory of reference groups, of social mobility, or role-conflict and of the formation of social norms just as one speaks of a theory of prices, a germ theory of disease, or a kinetic theory of gases. The seminal ideas in such theories are characteristically simple: consider. The initial idea thus suggests specific hypotheses which are tested by seeing whether the inferences from them are empirically confirmed. The the theory of reference groups and relative deprivation starts with the simple idea, initiated by James, Baldwin, and Mead and developed by Hyman and Stouffer, that people take the standards of significant others as a basis for self-appraisal and evaluation. Some of the inferences drawn from this idea are at odds with commonsense expectations based upon an unexamined set of 'self-evident' assumptions. Common sense, for example, would suggest that the greater the actual loss experienced by a family in a mass disaster, the more acutely it will feel deprived. This belief is based on the unexamined assumption that the magnitude of objective loss is related linearly to the subjective appraisal of the loss and that this appraisal is confined

to one's own experience. But the theory of relative deprivation leads to quite a different hypothesis-that self-appraisals depend upon people's comparisons of their own situation with that of other people perceived as being comparable to themselves. This theory therefore suggests that, under specifiable conditions, families suffering serious losses will feel less deprived than those suffering smaller losses if they are in situations leading them to compare themselves to people suffering even more severe losses. For example, it is people in the area of greatest impact of a disaster who, though substantially deprived themselves, are most apt to see others around them who are even more severely deprived. Empirical inquiry supports the theory of relative deprivation rather than the common-sense assumptions: "the feeling of being relatively better off than others increases with objective loss up to the category of highest loss" and only then declines. This pattern is reinforced by the tendency of public communications to focus on "the most extreme sufferers [which] tends to fix them as a reference group against which even other sufferers can compare themselves favourably." As the inquiry develops, it is found that these patterns of self-appraisal in term, affect the distribution of morale in the community of survivors and their motivation to help others. Within a particular class of behaviour, therefore, the theory of relative deprivation directs us to a set of hypotheses that can be empirically tested. The confirmed conclusion can then be put simply enough: when few are hurt to much the same extent, the pain and loss of each seems great; where many are hurt in greatly varying degree, even fairly large losses seem small as they are compared with far larger ones. The probability that comparisons will be made is affected by the differing visibility of losses of greater and less extent. The specificity of this example should not obscure the more general character of middle-range theory. Obviously, behaviour of people confronted with a mass disaster is only one of an indefinitely large array of particular situations to which the theory of reference groups can be instructively applied , just as is the case with the theory of change in social stratification, the theory of authority, the theory of institutional interdependence, or the theory of anomie. But it is equally clear that such middle-range theories have not been logically derived from a single all- embracing theory of social systems, though once developed they may be consistent with one. Furthermore, each theory is more than a mere empirical generalization-an isolated proposition summarizing observed uniformities of relationships between two or more variables. A theory comprises a set of assumptions from which empirical generalizations have themselves been

Parsons-is found in the structural fact that the other members of a role-set are apt to hold various social positions differing from those of the status-occupant in question. To the extent that members of a role-set are diversely located in the social structure, they are apt to have interests and sentiments, values and moral expectations, differing from those of the status-occupant himself. This, after all, is one of the principal assumptions of Marxist theory as it is of much other sociological theory: social differentiation generates distinct interests among those variously located in the structure of the society. For example, the members of a school board are often in social and economic strata that differ significantly from the stratum of the school teacher. The interests, values, and expectations of board members are consequently apt to differ from those of the teacher who may thus be subject to conflicting expectations from these and other members of his role-set: professional colleagues, influential members of the school board and, say, the Americanism Committee of the American Legion. An educational essential for one is apt to be judged as an educational frill by another, or as one status holds, in identifiable degree, for occupants of other statuses who are structurally related through their role-set to others who themselves occupy differing positions in society.. What holds conspicuously for this one status holds, in identifiable degree, for occupants of other statuses who are structurally related through their role-set to others who themselves occupy differing positions in society. Thus, the assumed structural basis for potential disturbance of a role-set gives rise to a double question (which, the record shows, has not been raised in the absence of the theory): which social mechanisms, if any, operate to counteract the theoretically assumed instability of role-sets and, correlatively, under which circumstances do these social mechanisms fail to operate, with resulting inefficiency, confusion, and conflict? Like other questions that have historically stemmed from the general orientation of functional analysis, these do not assume that role-sets invariably operate with substantial efficiency. For this middle-range theory is not concerned with the historical generalization that a degree of social order or conflict prevails in society but with the analytical problem of identifying the social mechanisms which produce a greater degree of order or less conflict than would obtain if these mechanisms were not called into play. Email-artirani21nov@gmail.com

Merton's Middle Range Theory, Lecture notes of Sociology

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