TY - JOUR
AU - ABBOTT, ANDREW
AB - 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.
TI - The Causal Devolution
JF - Sociological Methods & Research
DO - 10.1177/0049124198027002002
DA - 1998-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/the-causal-devolution-1fZ1ONdEPL
SP - 148
EP - 181
VL - 27
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -