Grand theories in sociology are ambitious theoretical frameworks that attempt to provide an overall explanation of social life, social development, and the fundamental nature of society as a whole. These theories typically seek to understand the underlying principles and structures that shape human behaviour, social interactions, and the evolution of societies over time. Karl Marx's theory of successive class conflicts as the driving force of history, leading to the eventual overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a communist society, is a classic example of grand theorizing, attempting to explain the trajectory of human social development through the lens of economic and material forces. Other examples of grand theories include Talcott Parsons's structural functionalism, which views society as a complex system striving for equilibrium, and Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory, which analyses global inequality in terms of a core-periphery model. While grand theories aim to provide comprehensive explanations, they have also been critiqued for being overly abstract, difficult to test empirically, and sometimes too broad to account for the diversity and complexity of social phenomena.