Theory Construction from Available Materials: A System for Organizing and Presenting Propositions

The problem of cumulating theory in sociology is approached through development of a procedure for combining theory statements of various types into a summary or summaries that constitute the best of what we know about a topic area. An analysis of theory finds that relations among concepts show four properties-association, symmetry, quantification, and interdependence-all of which are analytic dimensions of relations. Means for combining statements exhibiting different properties are proposed. Once statements are combined, representing them in a matrix is shown to facilite both manipulation and determination of a theory's useful size.