Ross, Lauren N. (2021) What is social structural explanation? A causal account. [Preprint]
|
Text
Structural_cause_expln_Ross.pdf Download (159kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Social scientists appeal to various “structures” in their explanations including public policies, economic systems, and social hierarchies. Significant debate surrounds the explanatory relevance of these factors for various outcomes such as health, behavioral, and economic patterns. This paper provides a causal account of social structural explanation that is motivated by Haslanger (2016). This account suggests that one way that social structure is explanatory is in virtue of operating as a causal constraint, which is a causal factor with unique characteristics. A novel causal framework is provided for understanding these explanations–this addresses puzzles regarding the mysterious causal influence of social structure, how to understand its relation to individual choice, and what makes it more explanatory (and causally responsible) for various outcomes.
Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
Social Networking: |
Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creators: |
|
||||||
Keywords: | scientific explanation; causation; social science | ||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Sociology |
||||||
Depositing User: | Lauren N. Ross | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 22 Oct 2021 04:25 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 22 Oct 2021 04:25 | ||||||
Item ID: | 19721 | ||||||
Subjects: | General Issues > Causation General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Sociology |
||||||
Date: | 2021 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19721 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
View Item |