Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

THEORY AND RESEARCH

aggressive physical behavior, use of intimidation,
loyalty to insiders, and “character contests.” A sub-
part of learning theory, masculinity theory, notes that
certain sports are “hypermasculine” (such as foot-
ball, rugby, and ice hockey versus swimming, track,
baseball, and tennis). Hypermasculine sports
emphasize engaging in individual violence, such as
the use of the body as a weapon, brutal body con-
tact, and raw physical domination. These sports link
success and prestige among peers to a particular
form of “maleness.” This form of maleness is insu-
lated from alternative forms of masculinity, which it
labels as “weak” or “effeminate.” Together social
learning and masculinity theory predict that boys
who participate or have friends in hypermasculine
sports will engage in antisocial behavior, such as
fighting, more than those who participate in other
sports or who are not engaged in high school sports.
The two theories offer competing predications:
(1) participating in school sports or having peers
in them reduces antisocial behavior, (2) partici-
pating in certain sports or having peers in those
sports increases antisocial behavior. Kraeger (2008)
examined data from a national sample of 6,397 male
high school students. He investigated males who
participated in twelve high school sports or had
friends in those sports to identify any connections

with the students’ engaging in antisocial behavior

(i.e., fighting or other acts of delinquency). The find-

ings suggest that high school males with many

friends in hypermasculine sports (such as football),

especially those also active in such sports them-

selves, had a high likelihood of fighting. By con-

trast, the high school males in other school-based

sports, such as tennis, had a low tendency to fight.

His findings showed more support for social learn-

ing than for social control theory.

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, you learned about social theory—its

parts, purposes, and types. The dichotomy between

theory and research is an artificial one. The value of

theory and its necessity for conducting good

research should be clear. Researchers who proceed

without theory rarely conduct top-quality research

and frequently find themselves in a quandary. Like-

wise, theorists who proceed without linking theory

to research or anchoring it to empirical reality are in

jeopardy of floating off into incomprehensible spec-

ulation and conjecture. You now should be familiar

with the scientific community, the dimensions of

research, and social theory.

KEY TERMS

association
assumption
causal explanation
causal mechanism
concept classification
concept cluster
deductive direction
empirical generalization
formal theory
functional theory
grounded theory
hypothesis

ideal type

ideology

inductive direction

interpretative explanation

level of abstraction

macro-level theory

meso-level theory

micro-level theory

middle-range theory

negative relationship

network theory

parsimony

positive relationship

proposition

sequential theory

structural explanation

substantive theory

theoretical concept

theoretical explanation

theoretical framework

typology

unit of analysis