ABSTRACT
It is instructive to view any science from three perspectives: as a social institution, as a method, and as a body of accumulated knowledge. Viewing science as a method demands a treatment of current sociological research strategies. In his indictment of modern sociological theory in 1954, Herbert Blumer traced sociologists' inability to develop sound theory to a misunderstanding of concepts. As an image of reality, concepts are perhaps the most critical element in any theory. A concept carries with it what all definitions of social objects contain: It designates and suggests a plan of action toward some social object. While all concepts propose lines of action toward social objects, scientific concepts must meet certain criteria. They must be consensually defined within the community of scientists. A hypothesis or proposition is defined as a statement of relationship between two or more concepts. Fundamentally, propositions rest upon the definition and the concept because they combine concepts in an explanatory and predictive manner.
