The Causal Devolution

Andrew Abbott
Additional contact information
Andrew Abbott: University of Chicago

Sociological Methods & Research, 1998, vol. 27, issue 2, 148-181

Abstract: This article discusses causal analysis as a paradigm for explanation in sociology. It begins with a detailed analysis of causality statements in Durkheim's Le suicide. It then discusses the history of causality assumptions in sociological writing since the 1930s, with brief remarks about the related discipline of econometrics. The author locates the origins of causal argument in a generation of brilliant and brash young sociologists with a model and a mission and then briefly considers the history of causality concepts in modern philosophy. The article closes with reflections on the problems created for sociology by the presumption that causal accounting is the epitome of explanation within the discipline. It is argued that sociology should spend more effort on (and should better reward) descriptive work.

Date: 1998
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0049124198027002002 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:somere:v:27:y:1998:i:2:p:148-181

DOI: 10.1177/0049124198027002002

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Sociological Methods & Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().