Explaining Social Change: An Analytical Approach (original) (raw)
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Analytical Sociology and Social Mechanisms
Mechanisms are very much a part of social life. For example, we can see that inequality has tended to increase over time, and that cities can become segregated. But how do such mechanisms work? Analytical sociology is an influential approach to sociology which holds that explanations of social phenomena should focus on the social mechanisms that bring them about. This book evaluates the major features of this approach, focusing on the significance of the notion of mechanism. Leading scholars seek to answer a number of questions in order to explore all the relevant dimensions of mechanism-based explanations in social sciences. How do social mechanisms link together individual actions and social environments? What is the role of multiagent modelling in the conceptualization of mechanisms? Does the notion of mechanism solve the problem of relevance in social sciences explanations?
Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2018
The aim of this article is to defend the thesis that agent-based models (ABMs) permit us to successfully address the problem of the micromacro connection in the social scienes. The argument is developed in four stages: First, we argue that the social sciences requires a theory of action constructed over a concrete explanatory mechanism, referred to as a "principle of action". Following, we examine how the micro-macro connection has often been theorised in sociology using what can be referred to as an "interactionist transition model". Thirdly, we show that ABMs fit the properties of the interactionist transition model, while contributing specific explanatory mechanisms. Lastly, the argument is illustrated through an analyis of the social reproduction of educational inequalities.
This article argues that analytical sociologyan approach that attempts to study social mechanisms`without black boxes'can benet from the use of explanatory mixed methods. Analytical sociologists mainly relate their theoretical and agent-based models to representative surveys and experiments. While their central claim is to nd and test the actual mechanisms that have produced the explanandum, the mechanisms they postulate often remain speculative. Neither agent-based models, nor experiments or mainstream quantitative methods, give access to some of the central elements of the causal mechanisms and the relevant subjective and objective contextual parameters. One of the most important reasons for this lies in the fact that social reality is changing fast, characterized by strong diversity and complexied by the phenomenon of cultural meanings. I argue that by creating and testing the models of analytical sociology with explanatory mixed methods, researchers have the possibility of getting closer to their object of research and therefore of having the chance to create more valid explanations.
Analyse & Kritik, 2016
The revival of action based explanations as well as their formal structuring have been two of the most important topics within explanatory sociology since the 1980s. The two newly developed approaches, being structural individualism and analytical sociology based on mechanism models, will be outlined in this article. The article is dedicated to a comparison of the aims and the formal structure of both approaches. It is shown that explanations within analytical sociology tend to be more realistic but also more complex. They do not differentiate between micro and macro levels in analytical terms and use micro mechanisms instead of an analytically strong action theory that makes it difficult to systemize mechanism models. On the other hand, structural individualistic explanations that use a general action law from which social interdependencies are to be interpreted as an opportunity structure can formulate a default-option from which models can be expanded and also worked out to mecha...
El Espacio De Los Movimientos Sociales
2015
El concepto de espacio de los movimientos sociales designa el universo, relativamente autonomo, de practicas y sentidos dentro del mundo social, en el cual las movilizaciones de protesta se encuentran unidas por relaciones de interdependencia. Concebir de este modo la actividad contestataria permite captar la dinamica interna de relaciones que unen entre si a los diferentes movimientos, al igual que, en un plano externo, aquellas relaciones que esta esfera de actividad mantiene con otros universos sociales, tales como el campo politico o el mundo sindical. Atender a la dimension practica de la actividad contestataria lleva a considerar el espacio de los movimientos sociales como un universo de competencia, que exige de quienes lo conforman el dominio de un conjunto especifico de saberes y destrezas. La presentacion del concepto arroja luz sobre las recomposiciones de los movimientos sociales contemporaneos, al mismo tiempo que invita a una discusion sobre los principales conceptos d...
Construcción y análisis de indicadores sociales
Programa del curso Origen, construcción y análisis de indicadores sociales – Maestría en Metodología de la investigación social, Universidad Tres de Febrero y Universidad de Bologna, Buenos Aires, Argentina -- 2008
Diseño social: Tendencias, enfoques y campos de acción
2016
Desde los mismos origenes del diseno como profesion y paralelo a su desarrollo al servicio de la industria y el mercado, se han expresado visiones en torno al diseno como modo de accion centrado la resolucion de problemas y necesidades de las personas y la sociedad. Este articulo busca aportar a la definicion de las diferentes variantes y perspectivas de accion del diseno social, la evolucion y transformacion historica de este enfoque y las formas de pensamiento y accion que lo fundamentan teorica y metodologicamente. Se realiza una revision historica de los conceptos asociados a la disciplina y se resenan autores y publicaciones que han abierto el debate frente al papel del diseno en el progreso de la sociedad, desde los aspectos economicos, tecnologicos, culturales y sociales.
Data, Generative Models, and Mechanisms: More on the Principles of Analytical Sociology
Analytical Sociology – with its focus on mechanisms, multi-level models, and the integration of theory and research practice – has been the most promising and productive development in social theory of the past several decades. Beginning with the editor's masterfully clear and thorough explication of the approach, the volume's contributions at once exemplify analytical sociology's central tenets and illustrate the wide range of theories of action, levels of analysis, and substantive problems to which the approach is germane. Analytical Sociology will be an indispensable addition to social theory syllabi and working sociologists' bookshelves. " Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University Analytical sociology represents a new and promising approach in today's sociology, and I can think of no better introduction to what it is trying to accomplish than this volume. The reader will enjoy the individual chapters both for their sharpness and for the careful way in which they have been crafted. " Richard Swedberg, Cornell University " " Analytical Sociology: • Provides the most complete and up-to-date theoretical treatment of analytical sociology. • Looks at a wide range of complex social phenomena within a single and unitary theoretical framework. • Explores a variety of advanced methods to build and test theoretical models. • Examines how both computational modelling and experiments can be used to study the complex relation between norms, networks and social actions. • Brings together research from leading global experts in the field in order to present a unique set of examples on mechanism-based sociology. Advanced graduate students and researchers working in sociology, methodology of social sciences, statistics, social networks analysis and computer simulation will benefit from this book.