Motives and Mechanisms

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?