Abstract
Lemert does not believe that social theory is the privilege of social scientists. He actually argues that everybody can practice it, and come up with some social theory by the simple observation of everyday life. He takes the example of his son at school who tried to understand the mechanisms of authority.
The origins of Social Theory:
The apparition of social theory dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Social theory as we know it appeared in the 18th century, with the Enlightenment. Modernity actually triggered it, as the changes that occurred needed to be explained; one of the first social dichotomies was the difference between modernity and the traditional societies before it. Weber, Durkheim, Simmel and Marx wrote on it. Modern society also needed its citizens to participate, and thus to know how their world actually worked. The first form of social theory was thus comparative, which is no longer true.
