The Uses and Misuses of Max Weber's Types of Legitimation in American Sociology.

In the thirties, excitement ran high over the possibility of closing the gap between theory and technique in American sociology. The great Chicago tradition of Veblen, Dewey, Park, and Mead seemed about to join with that of Cooley at Michigan to reduce grand theory to method, while Ogburn, Stouffer, and Burgess, working to develop techniques based on statistical inference and case studies, were attempting to close the gap between technique and theory. In the Middle West at least, it was recognized that unless something was done to relate theory and technique, sociology could not be taken seriously as a science. As one wag puts it, American sociology was the only human study that passed from theory to technique without developing a methodology. Unfortunately, the hopes of the thirties have not been fulfilled. The gap between theory and technique has not closed-indeed, some believe that it is even wider than it was in 1934. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]