IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/mpifgd/207.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Causal mechanism and explanation in social science

Author

Listed:
  • Mayntz, Renate

Abstract

In the social sciences, the development of a specific social event or structure is often explained by a statistical correlation between an independent variable and a variable assumed to be dependent upon it. This mode of explanation is contested by a methodology of causal reconstruction that operates with the concept of mechanisms. A mechanism is a process in which a set of linked steps leads from initial conditions to an outcome or effect. Mechanisms are general concepts, subjecting individual cases to a general category. Except for the literature dealing specifically with the concept, the term 'mechanism' is often used without definition of its substantive content; there is no agreement with respect to the unique or plural character of the initial conditions, nor to the structure of the causal path leading to a specific outcome. Nevertheless, mechanisms have played a crucial role in detailed causal analysis of complex historical events, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and German unification of 1989.

Suggested Citation

  • Mayntz, Renate, 2020. "Causal mechanism and explanation in social science," MPIfG Discussion Paper 20/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/218729/1/1698648588.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mayntz, Renate, 1994. "Deutsche Forschung im Einigungsprozeß: Die Transformation der Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR 1989 bis 1992," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 17, number 17.
    2. Renate Mayntz, 2016. "Process tracing, abstraction, and varieties of cognitive interest," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 484-488, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Scharpf, Fritz W. & Mohr, Matthias, 1994. "Efficient self-coordination in policy networks: A simulation study," MPIfG Discussion Paper 94/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Paúl Cisneros, 2020. "A Comparative Study of the Introduction of Restrictions to Large‐Scale Mining in Four Latin American Countries," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 37(5), pages 687-712, September.
    3. Meske, Werner, 1998. "Institutional transformation of S&T systems in the European economies in transition: Comparative analysis," Discussion Papers, Working Group Transformation of Science Systems P 98-403, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Johannes Koenig & Thomas Brenner & Guido Buenstorf, 2017. "Regional effects of university funding: Excellence at the cost of regional disparity?," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 37(2), pages 111-133, October.
    5. Reinold, Theresa, 2019. "The Puzzle of Reconciliation after Genocide and the Role of Social Identities: Evidence from Burundi and Rwanda," Global Cooperation Research Papers 23, University of Duisburg-Essen, Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    causal reconstruction; finance crisis; German unification; mechanism; deutsche Vereinigung; Finanzkrise; kausale Rekonstruktion; Mechanismen;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:207. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mpigfde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.