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CHAPTER VI 
THE METHOD AND TECHNIQUE 
OF FORMAL SOCIOLOGY 
S WAS mentioned in chapter iii, the socio-histori- 
cal actuality, society as content, may be regarded 
- from three distinct viewpoints. The social sciences 
have divided society into different fields on the basis of a 
differentiation in content, and within these special fields 
there is therefore also room for three points of view. This 
may be illustrated by a social situation which is of interest 
to an economist—that, for instance, in which a number of 
men who have combined on the basis of a common interest 
refuse to work any longer for another number of men who 
have also combined. An analysis of this social situation 
from the three points of view will yield the following: 
1. With reference to the individual bearers, it will yield 
certain specific motives and emotions bringing the individ- 
uals into the situation described. 
2. With reference to the formal aspect of the reciproc- 
ities, it will yield two specific forms of association in con- 
flict and opposition. 
8. With reference to its factual aspect, it will yield a 
labor union on strike in conflict with an employers’ asso- 
ciation. 
The importance of these three viewpoints for an epis- 
temological inquiry has been referred to in chapter iii. 
What is of importance here is their methodological signifi- 
cance. The three viewpoints are three modes of approach 
toward an understanding of the actuality. The fact that 
each regards merely an abstraction from the actuality im- 
ei.