Fundamentals of Sociological Theorizing: Establishing a Nexus between Abstract Theoretical Reasoning and Empirical Research on Boko Haram (Published)
This paper examines the fundamentals of sociological theorizing with the aim of providing niches for the establishment of a nexus between abstract reasoning and empirical research in sociology that is theoretically science driven. To achieve this objective, the paper identified a key problem of post and undergraduate students being faced with a demanding situation while seeking knowledge in sociological theorizing. There would appear to be an explicit and palpable deficit in theoretical know-how on the supply side of knowledge deliverables to link theory to practice. What contributes to this problem, perhaps, is the lackadaisical attitude towards theory on the part of the students coupled with a quest for paper qualifications for the sake of getting employment rather than to demonstrate practical contributions that inform the discovery of new social phenomena to explain new social conditions. This paper raised a number of compelling questions as brief descriptions on the way to go, which, although still a work in progress, will contribute significantly to solving the problem and adding value to existing literature on sociological theorizing. This paper, ab initio, addressed the imperatives of sociological analysis of concepts, variables, facts, propositions and hypothesis in sociological theorizing. Types of theories were examined and handled within the classifications of micro and macro; grand and second-middle range theories, which were analyzed in relation to the four crucial components that are central to sociological theorizing. The five theoretical perspectives were labelled in this paper as the ‘Five Alive’ grand sociological theoretical perspectives. To further deepen the perspective on sociological theorizing, this paper tried to exemplify abstract versus empirical research and its implication on the contemporary social phenomenon of Boko Haram. Various methods and logics needed in sociological theorizing were presented. The space of eco-systemic evolutionism as both theory and method in the understanding and explaining of most sociological theories and the crucial role of thinking and reasoning in evolutionism in relation to sociological theorizing have also been stressed in this paper
Keywords: Abstract vs. Empirical Research, Boko Haram, Inductive vs. Deductive Methods, Method vs. Data, Social Phenomena, Sociological Theorising, Theoretical Perspectives, Theoretical Postulates, Theory