The definitive stage of all knowledge in which scientists search for general ideas or laws
Societies that utilize complex machinery and energy sources for production
Term coined by Mills to describe a means of knowledge that expresses both an understanding that personal troubles can and often do reflect broader social issues and problems and also faith in the capacity of human beings to alter the course of human history; expresses the humanistic aspect of the sociological perspective
Advocated by functionalist Talcott Parsons, involves the building of a theory of society based on aspects of the real world and the organization of these concepts to form a conception of society as a stable system of interrelated parts