PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Over the last two decades, the concepts of ‘social mechanism’ and ‘mechanistic explanation’ have increasingly found their way into both theoretical and empirical work in sociology. This paper contributes to the already extensive literature on the subject by offering, from a sociologist’s perspective, a critical appraisal of the direction the debate has taken. It is argued that in developing a mechanistic agenda in sociology, the basic tenets of a mechanistic approach—generative causality and a commitment to causal explanation that effectively deepen our understanding of phenomena—have been displaced by individual programmatic priorities serving particular theoretical and methodological preferences. To raise awareness of this tendency and bring needed clarity to the debate on social mechanisms, a plea is made to distinguish programmatic conveniences from general claims on causation and causal explanation. Only then will a philosophically informed, broad-based, and inclusive dialog on the necessity and potential advantages of a mechanistic approach enriched by contributions from all corners of the discipline become possible.