Comparativehistorical approaches american sociological. The comparative sequential method chapter 8 advances in. A causalcomparative design is a research design that seeks to find relationships between independent and dependent variables after an action or event has already occurred. Aligning ontology and methodology in comparative research, comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. The causal social mechanism movement attempts to understand why rather than how events occur as they do. Causal mechanisms in comparative historical sociology.
Historical analysis coedited with kathleen thelen, 2015. This tradition was previously referred to as comparative historical sociology, but mahoney and rueschemeyer 2003 refer to it as comparative historical analysis in recognition of the traditions growing multidisciplinary character. Comparative historical analysis is distinctively appropriate for developing explanations of macro historical phenomena of which there are inherently few cases. Highlights knowing what causes events to occur is the most important goal of all research. He explains how the investigation of causal mechanisms and the making of withincase causal inference are the central goals of multimethod and case study research, and provides a logic for connecting case studies and causal mechanism analysis with crosscase analysis, whether they are statistical analyses, experiments, or qca. Graduate seminar in comparative historical analysisspring 2006 daniel little, microfoundations, method, and causation, transaction, 1998. Comparative and historical sociology section of the. The methodological literature on the empirical identification of causal mechanisms an approach called process tracing has been dominated by the idea of empirically testing the presence of hypothesized mechanisms. This nexus straddles at least three disciplines sociology, history, and economics and so is subject to all the purification strategies and boundarymaintenance activities mentioned earlier. Second, the minimal objectives associated with the turn to mechanisms to specify causal mechanisms and engage in detailed causal reasoningare not at variance with traditional practices in the social sciences and thus hardly qualify as a distinct approach to causal assessment. During the past decade, social mechanisms and mechanismbased explanations have received considerable attention in the social sciences as well as in the philosophy of science. Particularly, skocpol deals with the distinctive value of cha.
In historical sociology and political science the late charles tilly. To explain an event is to give an account of why it happened. Causalcomparative research also called ex post facto which means after the factalleged causeand effect have already occurred and are being examined after the fact. Ragin 1987 this perspective originated among comparativists in sociology and political science concerned with understanding the roots of major sociopolitical changes among small numbers of. Comparative historical methods are linked to a longstanding research tradition. The most commonly used inference test is a ttest for differences between means. Includes section information, research and teaching materials, online sources, and much more in the areas of comparative and historical sociology. Although formation stories should be understood as causal, they t poorly into the dominant modes of causal argument in sociology, which can be collectively characterized by the metaphor of. Comparing the causal mechanisms underlying housing networks. We explain an outcome by offering a hypothesis about the causes that typically bring it about. Qualitative and archival methods reading list department of. Problems of the mechanistic turn in historical sociology and social history, journal of the philosophy of history on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. The first part discusses the idea of mechanismbased explanation from the point of view of.
The structure in turn shapes institutions and organizations, which affect the society resulting in phenomena ranging from gender bias and income inequality to war. It is a polemic against a dogmatic interpretation of the mechanismic mission. Causal realism asserts that causal connections between events and conditions are real and are conveyed by. Studies at the confluence of history and social science address issues of causation in three ways. Comparativehistorical sociology sociological science. Weller and barnes provide researchers with a powerful set of tools to investigate causal processes by showing how the logic of causal mediation analysis can bridge quantitative and qualitative research. Nevertheless, this conflict has generated bitter divisions between academics who only a decade ago might have stood together on the left or the right and has forged equally strange alliances. So a central ambition of virtually all social research is to discover causes. The role of general theory in comparativehistorical sociology, american journal of sociology 97, no. Although comparative historical analysis cha is often understood to entail the comparison of a small to medium number of cases usually countries or other macro units, we argue in this chapter that it may be more informative to say that this field involves the systematic comparison of sequences rueschemeyer and stephens 1997. This paper examines the possibility of applying the principles of cultural sociology to the study of the history of education and training. Causalcomparative research scrutinizes the relationship among variables in studies in which the independent variable has already occurred, thus making the study descriptive rather than experimental in nature.
Qualitative and archival methods reading list pdf download philosophy of social science. Although research into the development of education and training in the recent decades has been quite sociological in character, most sociological concepts used in such studies do not adequately addresses the issue of culture. We can only assert that there is a causal relationship between x and y if we can offer a credible hypothesis of the sort of underlying mechanism that might connect x to the occurrence of y. Finding pathways makes an important contribution to the growing methodological literature on the identification of causal mechanisms. A one day conference 32412 convened by dustin tingley, tyler vanderweele, and teppei yamamoto and supported by the eric e. Much remains to be understood about the development of societies where kinship historically has served as a fundamental mechanism of social integration. Unlike causal mechanisms, process patterns do not require such a bla. I sociological tradition treats politics as part of broader society. Causal mechanisms in comparative historical sociology daniel little university of michigandearborn social science history association 2005 portland, oregon historical sociologists are commonly interested in providing causal explanations of large historical outcomes.
So a central ambition of virtually all social research is. In turn, it defines context as the relevant aspects of a setting in which an array of initial conditions leads to an outcome of a defined scope and meaning via causal mechanisms. We argue for the discovery of causal mechanisms on the basis of causal reconstruction as suggested by mayntz 2009 2002, 2016. Drawing on insights from historical sociology and science studies, we argue that formation stories o er explanatory, causal claims. I examine a series of causal mechanisms that have been widely hypothesized as explanations. Must causal claims include generative mechanisms, and how effective are empirical methods designed to discover them. Causal diagrams and causal mechanisms understanding society. In addition, we need a historical social science, because processes that operate over long timescales can affect the health of. Causal mechanisms in smalln casestudies political science comparative politics. Data analysisdata analysis in a causalcomparative study, the first step is to construct frequency polygons. These approaches to causal investigation differ with regard to their modi operandi, the types of patterns they look for, their underlying assumptions and the challenges they face. The researchers goal is to determine whether the independent variable affected the outcome, or dependent variable, by comparing two or more groups of individuals.
To do so, we will explore the techniques, uses, strengths, and limitations of historical. The handbook of causal analysis for social research tackles these questions with nineteen chapters from leading scholars in sociology, statistics, public health, computer science, and human development. Context and causal mechanisms in political analysis. Context and causal mechanisms in political analysis tulia g. It builds upon a realist ontology of necessary and contingent relations forming causal mechanisms, in order to extend existing frameworks for explaining difference and change in housing networks. Causal mechanisms are explanatory tools to unpack the black boxes separating the input and output of models. Historically evolved institutions and culture generate different configurations of the political domain, shaping the meaning and forms of political activity in different societies. The core idea of analytical sociology is that sociological theory explains by specifying causal mechanisms that bring about social phenomena.
Politics in time is a splendid book that will shape debates in political science and beyond for many years to come. Aug 11, 2010 causal mechanisms in the social sciences causal mechanisms in the social sciences hedstrom, peter. In each, the evidence for subjectivist experience swamped the evidence for individuallevel objectivist mechanisms. Housing networks are perceived as interactive, open systems of agents bound. Analytical sociology is a strategy for understanding the social world. Perhaps the fiercest conflict within the social sciences today is one that is not even articulated as a recognizable debate.
The central premise of this special issue is that studying territorial politics with comparativehistorical analysis chaa casebased macroscopic analysis that is sensitive to context and temporality thelen and mahoney 2015holds valuable insights in understanding such substantively interesting outcomes as the changing territorial. Originating from different disciplines such as analytical sociology, political sociology, comparative historical analysis and qualitative research in political science, mechanismbased approaches stress that phenomena cannot fully be explained by correlations between variables. The last decade featured the emergence of a significant and growing literature concerning comparativehistorical methods. Longrange continuities in comparative and historical. Steve van evera, guide to methods for students of political science cornell, 1997. Causal mechanisms are rightly regarded as an important, but secondary, element of causal assessmentby no means a necessary condition.
Sociology that focuses on the past few years or decades is important. A theoretical and methodological approach to comparative and historical sociology that uses clear abstract models and intentional action as its main causal mechanism already has been articulated, although it has neither been systemat ically explicated nor widely emulated. Continuity and change in comparative and historical sociology comparative and historical sociologists have largely attended to the processes by which social structures and social actors were created and transformed over the course of the transition from traditional or feudal societies to some distinctively modern social life adams. It explains such facts not merely by relating them to other macrolevel facts, but by detailing in clear and precise ways the. Second, the minimal objectives associated with the turn to mechanismsto specify causal mechanisms and engage in detailed causal reasoningare not at variance with traditional practices in the social sciences and thus hardly qualify as a distinct approach to causal assessment. The processes or pathways through which an outcome is brought into being. Kosuke imai princeton causal mechanisms april, 2009 5 26 causal mediation analysis in comparative politics resource curse thesis authoritarian government civil war natural resources slow growth causes of civil war. Comparative studies examine and contrast social structures and processes across countries or regions to identify general patterns. Comparative historical sociology department of sociology. Comparing the causal mechanisms underlying housing. Comparative historical analysis and path dependence in political science 1 the genesis of comparative historical analysis in political science and sociology has witnessed the emergence, refinement, and sophistication of concepts of path dependence and. Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Causal mechanisms are the cogs and wheels that scholars come.
Because the independent variable the variable for which the researcher wants to suggest causation has already been completed e. Dissertation, department of sociology, university of washington. The term social mechanisms and mechanismbased explanations of social phenomenon originate from the philosophy of science the core thinking behind the mechanism approach has been expressed as follows by elster 1989. It is concerned with explaining important macrolevel facts such as the diffusion of various social practices, patterns of segregation, network structures, typical beliefs, and common ways of acting. This study defines causal mechanisms as portable concepts that explain how and why a hypothesized cause, in a given context, contributes to a particular outcome. Qualitative and archival methods reading list pdf download. Causal structure and mechanisms oxford scholarship.
Causal mechanisms in largen casestudies selfinterest assumptions eg behaviour social interaction norms values 12 political science comparative politics. Qualitative and archival methods reading list department. View or download all content the institution has subscribed to. Although comparativehistorical analysis cha is often understood to entail the comparison of a small to medium number of cases usually countries or other macro units, we argue in this chapter that it may be more informative to say that this field involves the systematic comparison of sequences rueschemeyer and stephens 1997. Sociology, university of buenos aires, argentina, 1994 is the class of 1965 endowed term professor of political science, director of the latin american and latino studies program, and senior fellow of the leonard davis institute for health economics at the university of pennsylvania. In terms of causal inference, new procedures exist for testing hypotheses about necessary and sufficient.
Mar 12, 2015 retrospective causal comparative research retrospective causal comparative research requires that a researcher begins investigating a particular question when the effects have already occurred and the researcher attempts to determine whether one variable may have influenced another variable. In historical sociology and political science the late charles tilly was a. The last decade featured the emergence of a significant and growing literature concerning comparative historical methods. Causal mechanisms involve the processes or pathways through which an outcome is brought into being. It looks at how social structures that many regard as natural are in fact shaped by complex social processes. The comparative sequential method chapter 8 advances. The main thesis is that, for a broad range of cases of interest to the present study, it is reasonable to identify mechanisms with what is called causal structure in work on the problem of inferring causal conclusions from statistical data. James mahoney and dietrich rueschemeyer, comparative historical analysis in the social sciences. Means and sd are usually calculated if the variables involved are quantitative. I usually political sociology is a branch of sociology, but this course is mostly political science but also has sociology, and to a lesser extent psychology, economics and anthropology.
Fearon and laitin apsr, 2003 kosuke imai princeton causal mechanisms april, 2009 6 26. Causal mechanisms and process patterns in international. Historical studies examine social processes over time, highlighting contexts and contingencies that influence specific changes while. I it is mainly political behaviour and part of a broader comparative politics eld. We offer an integrated study of political participation, bridging the gap between the literatures on civic engagement and social movements. This paper concerns the ontology and epistemology of comparative research, which are the foundations of a research strategy. Sponsored by harvards institute for quantitative social science.
Thinking without comparison is unthinkable swanson, 1971 quoted by. The chapter considers the specific characteristics of causal relations among social structures, processes, and activities. This literature offers methodological tools for causal and descriptive inference that go beyond the techniques currently available in mainstream statistical analysis. Comparative historical approaches in sociology are research methods to study social formation and transformation. Oct 28, 2008 the central tenet of causal realism is a thesis about causal mechanisms or causal powers. James mahoney is the fulcher professor of political science and sociology at northwestern university, and chair of the department of sociology. Pdf comparativehistorical methodology researchgate. The structure in turn shapes institutions and organizations, which affect the society resulting in phenomena ranging from gender bias and. Gallegothe comparative historical analysis of public management policy. Apr 25, 2020 this is the official homepage of the section on comparative and historical sociology of the american sociological association.
Can the mathematics and graphical systems created for statistical causal modeling be adapted to represent and evaluate hypotheses about causal mechanisms and outcomes. Against the humean idea that causal relations are defined by facts about regular succession, the chapter argues that the notion of a causal mechanism is fundamental. This chapter explicates the connection between the qualitative concept of a mechanism and the probabilistic causal concepts described in the previous chapter. Causal mechanisms in the social realm oxford scholarship. Historical embeddedness and complex contagions in the adoption of the reformation. Historical sociology is a branch of sociology focusing on how societies develop through history. Morphological inquiries elaborate causal arguments by uncovering.
The role of general theory in comparativehistorical. It represents the most systematic and thorough statement on theorizing temporal processes in the social sciences ever written. The central tenet of causal realism is a thesis about causal mechanisms or causal powers. Handbook of causal analysis for social research handbooks. Multimethod research, causal mechanisms, and case studies.
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