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Cited by 986

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

What Is Field Theory?

Martin, John Levi·2003·American Journal of Sociology
DOI 10.1086/375201
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Abstract

Field theory is a more or less coherent approach in the social sciences whose essence is the explanation of regularities in individual action by recourse to position vis‐à‐vis others. Position in the field indicates the potential for a force exerted on the person, but a force that impinges “from the inside” as opposed to external compulsion. Motivation is accordingly considered to be the paramount example of social structure in action, as opposed to a residue of chance or freedom. While field theory is often castigated for its necessarily tautological definition, this may be far more of an advantage than a defect. Field theory offers social scientists a combination of analytical insight and attention to the concrete; further, the implicit definition of “explanation” that it brings is one that, unlike conventional sociological definitions, is internally consistent and in accord with everyday usage.

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Metadata

Authors
Martin, J. L.
Venue
American Journal of Sociology
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Published
2003-07
Volume
109
Issue
1
Pages
1-49
ISSN
  • 0002-9602 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5390
DOI
10.1086/375201
OpenAlex
W1543353770
Cited by
986
References
8
FWCI
37.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: What Is Field Theory? https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1086/375201
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Martin, J. L. (2003). What Is Field Theory? American Journal of Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1086/375201

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.