BIG PICTURE

1
BIG PICTURE

• Exploring your topic/question through the eyes of
  the theorist.
• Leave your opinions out of it!
• DO NOT answer your question according to your own
  opinions and then attempt to use the theory to
  support your opinion.

2
EXAMPLE QUESTION

• My topic gender and the legal profession
• My question/problem Why are female lawyers more
  likely to work in public interest law than male
  lawyers?

3
WRONG APPROACH

• I think that women prefer working in these
  settings because they are more family friendly
  work environments. How can I support this
  opinion using Marx?

4
BETTER APPROACH

• What does Marx think? I know for Marx,
  everything is about class and the internal
  contradictions of capitalism, so let me start
  there...

5
TIPS FOR APPLYING THE THEORY

• Marx
• Who are the bourgeoisie in this case?
• Who are the proletariat?
• Who is exploiting who? Who profits?
• How are they exploiting them?
• How does this cause alienation?
• Etc.

6
TIPS FOR APPLYING THE THEORY

• Durkheim
• What is the structure I am examining?
• What is the necessary and desirable condition?
• Is there an external threat?
• If there is a threat, how is it affecting the
  structure's ability to achieve the necessary and
  desirable condition?
• Consider the division of labor, solidarity, etc.

7
TIPS FOR APPLYING THE THEORY

• Weber
• How do class, status, and party play a part in my
  topic?
• Are there organizations involved in my topic?
  What kind of authority do they represent?
• Etc.

8
TWEAK YOUR QUESTION

• Ask the question the way the theorist might ask
  it. This is part of exploring as the theorist
  would.
• EXAMPLE Marx would want to know where the class
  conflict is in my topic, so I had to consider the
  relationships and answer the questions Marx would
  ask.
• EXAMPLE Durkheim doesn't care about class. He
  would want to know about the division of labor,
  whether it was creating solidarity, and whether
  that was functional.

9
SUMMARY

• Let the theorist shape your analysis of your
  topic.
• What question would the theorist ask?
• How would the theorist answer the question?
• Keep your opinions out!
• You might disagree with what the theorist thinks,
  but that's okay.
• No expressive writing in exploratory.