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Motives and Mechanisms

Motives and Mechanisms. Motives and Mechanisms. Theories include causal relations and causal mechanisms. Mechanisms are an essential component of theory. Mechanisms. Statements of causal relations tell us that two factors are related Mechanisms tell us WHY

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Motives and Mechanisms

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  1. Motives and Mechanisms

  2. Motives and Mechanisms • Theories include causal relations and causal mechanisms. • Mechanisms are an essential component of theory.

  3. Mechanisms • Statements of causal relations tell us that two factors are related • Mechanisms tell us WHY • Describe the process through which X produces Y

  4. Mechanisms are general • For example: • Self-fulfilling prophecy (Merton) • Network diffusion (Coleman) • Threshold theory of collective action (Granovetter) • These theories explain different phenomena, but rely on the same MECHANISM (Hedstrom & Swedberg 1998 Social Mechanisms: An Analytical Approach to Social Theory)

  5. Mechanisms usually refer to lower-level processes • Causal mechanisms usually explain higher-level phenomena by referring to events at a lower level. • So, mechanisms explaining social behavior usually refer to individuals • Social theories require understanding why individuals act as they do

  6. The challenge • Typically, we cannot observe these mechanisms • While action is observable, motives are not

  7. What to do? • Make simplifying assumptions • These assumptions don’t describe the full complexity of human beings, but are useful for developing social theories • Common assumptions • Individuals will maximize • Wealth • Power • Prestige

  8. Types of Mechanisms Macro-level cause Macro-level Outcome Situational mechanisms Transformational mechanisms Behavioral mechanisms Individual internal states Individual action

  9. Situational mechanisms • Explain how macro-level phenomena affects individuals Example. Durkheim: IntegrationLack of purpose Individualism Suicide Rates Lack of Purpose Individual Suicide

  10. Transformational mechanisms • Explain how individual actions combine to produce group-level phenomena Example. Individual Suicide  Suicide Rates Protestantism Suicide Rates Individualism Individual Suicide

  11. Transformational Mechanisms • Aggregation • Strategic Interaction (game theory)

  12. Behavioral mechanisms • How individual internal states affect individual behavior • In other words, how people act given their motives and situations Example: Individualism  Individual Suicide Protestantism Suicide Rates Individualism Individual Suicide

  13. Behavioral assumptions • An important source of causal mechanisms in sociology

  14. Max Weber (1864-1920)

  15. Max Weber (1864-1920) on ‘orientations to action’ • I. Consequentialist • Instrumental action (zweckrationalitat) • People choose a course of action that they believe is the most effective to attain their most preferred end (or goal) • Works for any end • Has to do with the ‘rationality’ of the means, not the ‘rationality’ of the ends

  16. ‘orientations to action’ cont’d • II. Non-consequentialist action • Value-rational (wertrational) • Action motivated because of • Duty, right, or its own sake • Sir Thomas More. “A Man for All Seasons” • Affective • Action motivated by emotion (affect) • Crimes of passion • Reflex • Habit

  17. Nota Bene • Non-consequentialist action occurs regardless of its consequences for the individual’s welfare

  18. Typical asumptions • Typical sociologist assumption: • People are value rational • People have been socialized • Typical economist assumption • People are instrumentally rational

  19. A caveat • Neither view is completely accurate

  20. Motives differ • Fehr & Gintis report evidence suggesting that people vary • Some are instrumentally rational (self-interested) • Others are more value rational (“strong-reciprocators”)

  21. Are we hard-wired? • While sociologists have traditionally emphasized socialization as a source of values, work by evolutionary psychologists suggests that evolution is a factor • Evolution produces widely shared human values

  22. Behavioral assumptions and social order • Social order is high to the degree that individuals obey rules and laws • If people are instrumentalists with selfish goals, they may undermine social order • criminal behavior • If people are value-rational who always want to ‘do the right thing,’ they will tend to uphold the social order (at least in their own societies) • September 11

  23. Analyzing Theory • Identify • Cause • Outcome • Mechanisms

  24. Applying Theory • Ask: What are the empirical implications?

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