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The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science
Abstract
Mechanisms in a theory are defined here as bits of theory about entities at a different level (e.g., individuals) than the main entities being theorized about (e.g., groups), which serve to make the higher-level theory more supple, more accurate, or more general. The criterion for whether it is worthwhile to theorize at lower levels is whether it makes the theory at the higher levels better, not whether lower-level theorizing is philosophically necessary. The higher-level theory can be made better by mechanisms known to be inadequate in the discipline dealing with the lower level. Conditions for the usefulness of lower-level theorizing are proposed, with many examples from various social and physical sciences.
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Cites
Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
(1982) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511809477 · Cited by 8,240
Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences.
Zajonc, R. B. (1980) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.35.2.151 · Cited by 8,094
Cited by
Social Theory of International Politics
Wendt, A. (1999) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511612183 · Cited by 7,664
Schilke, O., Hu, S., & Helfat, C. E. (2018) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2016.0014 · Cited by 1,226
Context and Causal Mechanisms in Political Analysis
Falleti, T. G., & Lynch, J. F. (2009) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414009331724 · Cited by 909
What’s in a mechanism? Development of a key concept in realist evaluation
Dalkin, S. M., Greenhalgh, J., Jones, D., Cunningham, B., & Lhussier, M. (2015) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-015-0237-x · Cited by 896
Unpacking black boxes: mechanisms and theory building in evaluation
Astbury, B., & Leeuw, F. L. (2010) · American Journal of Evaluation · doi:10.1177/1098214010371972 · Cited by 850
Metadata
- Authors
- Stinchcombe, A. L.
- Venue
- Philosophy of the Social Sciences
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1991-09
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 367-388
- ISSN
- 0048-3931 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7441
- OpenAlex
- W2009093886
- Cited by
- 459
- References
- 2
- FWCI
- 15.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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