The theory of social games: outline of a general theory for the social sciences

Sociological general theories (or “grand theories”) have been criticized for being too abstract to be of any practical use for empirical sociological work. This paper presents the outline of a general theory that claims to be better linked to empirical social research than previous theoretical attempts. The theory analyzes social life as a multitude of interacting social games. A social game is an entity created by players with resources who engage in action that is shaped by goals, rules, and representations, that involves objects, and that leads to game outcomes. The general theory is as encompassing as previous theoretical attempts, while allowing us to integrate both instrumental and normative action at different levels of the social. Its main advantage is that it is linked to middle-range theory and empirical research by a descriptive-interpretive heuristic, an explanatory heuristic, and formal and agent-based modeling. The article provides many examples to illustrate the claims.