Agent Skills
› brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills
› soctheory-topic-selection
soctheory-topic-selection
GitHub用于评估研究构想是否构成真正的社会学理论问题，并判断其是否适合《社会学理论》期刊。通过四个筛选问题区分概念贡献与实证/综述，明确ST的定位及不适合的替代期刊。
Trigger Scenarios
不确定想法是理论问题还是实证研究
无法用一句话概括理论工作
怀疑文章实为文献综述或伪装成理论的实证发现
Install
npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill soctheory-topic-selection -g -y
SKILL.md
Frontmatter
{
"name": "soctheory-topic-selection",
"description": "Use when deciding whether an idea is a genuine theoretical problem and a fit for Sociological Theory (ST) rather than an empirical study or a review essay. Screens the problem and venue fit; it does NOT build the theory (soctheory-theory-construction) or position it in a tradition (soctheory-literature-positioning)."
}
Topic Selection: Is There a Real Theoretical Problem? (soctheory-topic-selection)
When to trigger
- You have an interesting phenomenon, intuition, or critique but no theory yet
- You are unsure whether the idea belongs at ST or at an empirical/specialist venue
- A draft exists but you cannot state, in one sentence, what theoretical work it does
- You suspect the "theory" is really a literature review or an empirical finding in disguise
What counts as an ST-fit theoretical problem
ST publishes work "in all areas of theory" — new substantive theories, history of theory, metatheory, formal theory construction, and synthetic contributions (submission guidelines, 检索于 2026-06；以官网为准). A fit problem is one where the deliverable is a conceptual advance: existing theory cannot see, name, or explain something, and your paper supplies the concept, mechanism, distinction, or reconstruction that lets it. Abend's "The Meaning of 'Theory'" (ST 2008, 26(2):173–199) is the discipline-level reminder that "theory" is several things at once — be explicit about which you are doing.
| Kind of theory work (Abend-style) | What the paper delivers | ST-fit? |
|---|---|---|
| New substantive theory | new concepts + mechanisms explaining a domain | Yes |
| History of theory | a re-reading of a tradition that changes how we use it | Yes |
| Metatheory | clarifying the logic/warrant of a kind of explanation | Yes |
| Formal theory construction | an explicit, sometimes formalized, derivation of propositions | Yes |
| Synthetic contribution | bridging two traditions to produce new theory | Yes |
| Empirical test of a hypothesis | a finding from data | No → ASR / AJS |
| Literature review | a map of what others said | No → Annual Review of Sociology |
The four screening questions
- Is there a theoretical problem, not just a topic? "Trust" is a topic; "existing theories treat trust as either calculative or moral, and cannot account for trust that is simultaneously both" is a problem.
- Is the contribution conceptual, not empirical? If the punchline is "X causes Y in this sample," it is an ASR/AJS paper. At ST the punchline is "here is a better way to think about X and Y."
- Does it engage a live tradition? ST theory intervenes in an ongoing conversation
(field theory, pragmatism, mechanisms, cultural sociology, Bourdieu, Luhmann, relational
sociology), not in a vacuum. (Develop this with
soctheory-literature-positioning.) - Can data stay illustrative? ST permits examples and cases to illustrate a concept, but they must never be the test. If you need a sample to make the claim true, the project is empirical.
Sibling-venue map (route off ST if the fit is wrong)
| If the project is really… | Send it to | Why not ST |
|---|---|---|
| An empirical test / causal estimate | ASR or AJS | ST does not test hypotheses |
| A methods/measurement advance | Sociological Methodology / SMR | ST is substantive/metatheory, not method |
| A comprehensive field survey | Annual Review of Sociology | ST wants a theoretical move, not a map |
| Historically grounded macro-process theory | Theory and Society (close sibling) | ST leans conceptual/analytic; T&S leans historical-comparative |
| Continental social theory essay | European Journal of Social Theory | ST is the ASA's analytically pluralist venue |
ST is the ASA's dedicated theory journal; do not confuse it with these neighbors.
Checklist
- The problem is stated as a tension existing theory cannot resolve (not a topic)
- The contribution is conceptual, not an empirical finding
- The kind of theory work is named (substantive / history / metatheory / formal / synthetic)
- A live tradition or conversation is identifiable for the intervention
- Any data is illustrative, never the test
- The project is not a better fit for ASR / AJS / Sociological Methodology / ARS / Theory and Society
Anti-patterns
- A "topic" ("emotions," "the state") presented as if it were a theoretical problem
- An empirical paper relabeled as theory by removing the regression table but keeping the test logic
- A literature review with no original theoretical move
- "Applying" an existing theory to a new case with no change to the theory itself
- Inventing a problem no tradition recognizes, so no reviewer can place the stakes
Output format
【Theoretical problem】[the tension existing theory cannot resolve]
【Kind of theory work】substantive / history of theory / metatheory / formal / synthetic
【ST-fit】yes / no → [route to ASR / AJS / SM / ARS / Theory and Society]
【Tradition to engage】[name]
【Data role】illustrative only / none
【Next step】soctheory-literature-positioning
Version History
- 1839142 Current 2026-07-05 14:28
