Postgrad struggling with theory? Here’s a relatable analogy to get your theory brain in gear!

For postgrads who feel a little rusty or out of practice when it comes to academic work, theory can be frustrating. It’s abstract, it’s conceptual, it’s academic, it’s impenetrable.

Like you, I often get frustrated with this.

This field will help you understand theory!

In this blogpost, I’m going to help you start to understand what theory is by thinking about this field. By the time you get to the end of this post, you will be thinking about theory in a completely new way, and you will feel more confident about it.

We’ll be covering three things – what theory is, the field analogy, social science theory examples.

What is ‘theory’?

Theory is an idea or set of ideas, underpinned by assumptions. In other words, we have an opinion or a belief about something, and that belief is based on what we know – or think we know – about it. It’s based on what we’ve come to learn is important.

Our views of what’s important might be different from someone else’s and that is the most basic thing you need to remember when we’re starting to look at theory.

The field analogy

Next, the field analogy. It’s just a field, yes, and on a superficial level, it might look the same to all of us. There are crops growing in it, there are trees at the end of it. It’s kind of green.

However, let’s invite some other people to come and take a look at the field.

Firstly, we have a farmer. What do you think they’re going to focus on? When a farmer looks at this field, they will be looking at how suitable the field is for growing crops or keeping animals. They’ll be interested in the quality of the soil, how secure the field is – whether there are hedgerows, fences or walls around it. They will be looking at how easy or difficult this field will be to farm. Will the costs of maintaining the field be more than the income they can generate from selling their crops or animals?

Next up, an artist. They might notice the light, the different shades of green and other colours in the field, the shadows from the trees. Why would the artist be focusing on these things? Perhaps because they want to recreate the field as a painting or a sketch, or a sculpture. Perhaps they want to take inspiration from the field to create a new piece of art, a print or design for a textile.

Lastly, a builder. He’s likely to look at the lay of the land, is it level, is it uneven? What’s the drainage like? Is the ground stable? Is it a former mining area, is it prone to earthquakes or subsidence? Where is the field located? Is it near to transport networks, schools and shops? Why is he focusing on these things? Because he might want to build houses, offices or apartments on the land.

All of these different people look at the field and see things that the others don’t. They will focus on things that the others don’t.

What we’ve done there, by thinking about the different ways in which people look at the field, the different questions they ask, the different things they choose to focus upon, is that we’ve started thinking theoretically.

We’ve started to understand that even though all of these people are looking at exactly the same thing – a field, their pre-existing knowledge, their assumptions, and their beliefs influence the way in which they understand, interpret and see value in that field. They have different ways of making sense of the field.

Social science theory examples

Let’s take a look at some academic examples now and you’ll see how easy this can be. All of the theories that you’ll come across in your studies are basically different ways of making sense of something.

Marxism, feminism, zemiology.

In the same way that artists, farmers and builders have a different view of the field, Marxists, Feminists, and Zemiologists will have different views of what they’re looking at.

They will have varying core principles and ideas that underpin their belief systems and how they see the world.

Let’s take the example of crime….

• Marxists would look at crime and see it as a result of the fundamental injustices and inequalities that are inherent within the capitalist system. Marxists might see people driven to commit crime because capitalism makes their lives so impoverished- their criminality is a response to this.

• Feminists might look at crime and consider how crime is connected to gendered inequalities, they might examine crimes that disproportionately affect women – for instance domestic abuse and sexual violence.

• Zemiologists might say that looking at crime is not enough, we need to think more broadly about social harms, which may include acts and behaviours that aren’t officially criminal but still have a negative effect on people and societies.

When we’re looking at theories like these, that’s the first thing we need to do – understand what is important to these theories. What do these theories prioritise? What do they think are the most crucial things to focus on when it comes to making sense of the world?

For Marxists, it’s the economy in general and capitalism in particular. For feminists, they see gender as THE thing around which social life is organised. For zemiologists, they focus on things that are harmful – things that leave people in a worse state.

That’s what you need to do whenever you come across a theory, as this question: “What’s the most important thing for this theory”.

That’s a really simple, basic introduction to theory. We’ve taken the everyday example of the field and thought about different perspectives on it and we’ve then moved on to the example of crime and thought about how different social science theories would approach it.

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