Some Methodological Aspects of Ethnic Problems in the Works of Contemporary Western Sociologists and Ethnographers

Abstract

The theoretical aspect of ethnic problems is now being given high-priority treatment in bourgeois sociology and anthropology. Works are appearing which attempt to define the character of studies of ethnic problems now under way and to identify the tendencies that have taken shape in this field. The American sociologist K. A. Schermerhorn divides studies of ethnic subjects written in English into five categories: 1. purely descriptive studies; 2. works containing both description of new data and theoretical interpretation of them; 3. works of classification; 4. studies examining diverse factual material from the standpoint of some special theory; and 5. works on the level of comparative theory. (1)