Generalizing

Abstract

A theory presupposes an effort to apply it to more than just a specific situation, and “theoretical” statements are thereby supposed to be generalizable. Social theorizing thus involves a “generic” outlook on social life distinctly characterized by its conscious disregard for specificity. Instead of studying specific groups, situations, and events, theorizers thus try to transcend their singularity. Focusing their attention on the generic rather than the specific, they actually study genericized “types” of groups, situations, and events in an effort to reveal general patterns that are practically “invisible” to those who only study the specific. This chapter examines theorizers’ epistemic endeavor to “distill” such generic social patterns from the specific contexts in which they actually encounter them, effectively detaching them from their specific cultural, historical, and situational instantiations and introducing a “generic sociology” that is pronouncedly transcontextual (transcultural, transhistorical, as well as transsituational) in its scope.