Abstraction (sociology)
Levels at which theoretical concepts can be understood / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sociological abstraction refers to the varying levels at which theoretical concepts can be understood. It is a tool for objectifying and simplifying sociological concepts.[1] This idea is very similar to the philosophical understanding of abstraction. There are two basic levels of sociological abstraction: sociological concepts and operationalized sociological concepts.
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A sociological concept is a mental construct that represents some part of the world in a simplified form. An example of a mental construct is the idea of class, or the distinguishing of two groups based on their income, culture, power, or some other defining characteristic(s). An operational definition specifies concrete, replicable procedures that reliably produce a differentiated, measurable outcome. Similarly, concepts can remain abstract or can be operationalized. Operationalizing a sociological concept takes it to the concrete level by defining how one is going to measure it. Thus, with the concept of social class one could operationalize it by actually measuring people's income. Once operationalized, you have a concrete representation of a sociological concept.[2]