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CHAPTER VI
THE METHOD AND TECHNIQUE
OF FORMAL SOCIOLOGY

S WAS mentioned in chapter iii, the socio-historical
 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 individuals
 into the situation described.
2. With reference to the formal aspect of the reciprocities,
 it will yield two specific forms of association in conflict
 and opposition.
8. With reference to its factual aspect, it will yield a
labor union on strike in conflict with an employers’ association.

The importance of these three viewpoints for an epistemological
 inquiry has been referred to in chapter iii.
What is of importance here is their methodological significance.
 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 imei.