From Middle-Range to Grand Theory: Three Emergent Pathways.

Robert K. Merton's middle range theory is one of the most influential programmatic statements on the epistemology of sociological theory. However, its accompanying theoretical procedures and ultimate goals remain vague. Consequently, the wide-recognition and favored usage of the middle range approach by both theorists and researchers seems to have contributed to the abandonment of a path toward a systematic, grand sociological theory. Nonetheless, there have been some attempts to link middle-range theorizing to grand theory. This paper searches for a possible of grand system of sociological theory by examining three emergent strategic pathways to achieving a grand theory from the level of middle-range theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]