Grand Theory in the Sociological Canon. Scopes, Semantics, and Strategic Usages of a Rhetorical Device Since the 1960s

Since the 1960s, “grand theory” has increasingly been used to categorize and discuss sociological theories. The result of this is, ironically, a discourse in which it is neither clear which theories count as “grand” nor what such a characterization indicates. By rooting our analysis in a corpus of 3,673 chapters of English-language textbooks, we offer an empirically-grounded contribution to the debate on the past and future of “grand theory”. First, we demonstrate how the composition and scope of “grand theory” have changed between 1967 and 2018. Second, we reconstruct the shifting semantic associations around the concept. Third, we qualitatively distinguish four strategic usages of “grand theory” within processes of canonization, which either intend to preserve, reduce, limit, or expand the composition of the sociological theory canon. In sum, we argue that the diverse rhetorical mobilization of the concept has institutionalized it as one of the central discursive structuring devices in debates about the sociological theory canon, effectively reifying the idea that the term designates a substantive form of theory while simultaneously obscuring “grand theory's” contested content.