Far from being able to separate theory from real life, our whole way of looking at the world depends on our theoretical perspective. When sociologists 'do sociology,' they do not come to their subject matter cold, their minds blank.
Theories are attempts to solve puzzles.
Inconsistencies that arise from our present understanding of social life pose these puzzles. Theories advanced to explain these inconsistencies offer new ideas about the social world. 1. classifying 2. predicting future events 3. explaining past events 4. How to think like a Social Scientist . The key concepts of a theory also enable us to see parts of social reality that may have escaped us otherwise.