Abstract

The author argues against a marked tendency in present day sociology to conflate philosophy and sociological theory. In trying to demonstrate the relative autonomy and specific logic of sociological theorizing, he draws from a variety of theoretical traditions in order to construct a set of interrelated concepts useful for bridging the gulf between macro and micro sociologies. Drawing examples from the sociology of development and from the theory of organizations, the author shows how the conceptual framework proposed can help the researcher to avoid both the reification of macro institutional structures and their reduction to the intersubjective understandings of micro actors.