Greek word theoria – meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action. Social theory – a system of interconnected abstractions or ideas that condenses and organizes knowledge about the social world. A theory does not necessarily have to prescribe the means by which its claims can be verified or tested. On the other hand, it is a role of research methods to verify or test theories. *Theories tend to offer generalized descriptions about a condition that claim to fit all instances of the behavior of that condition. Research methodologies tend to be much more specific.
All theories contain concepts , and concepts are the building blocks of theory. A concept is an idea expressed as a symbol or in words *natural science concepts are often expressed in symbolic forms. or formulas such as s = d/t, s = speed, d = distance and t = time. *these concepts are created from our everyday personal experiences, creative thought or observation *concepts from classical theorists include issues on gender role, socialization, self-worth etc..
Concepts have two parts: a symbol and a definition *for example white lady and we learned its definition from the rumors or stories we hear from the people we interact with everyday
*meaning the scientific community gains enough confidence that it is likely to be truthful.
