Causal Explanation of Social Action

Abstract

Causal explanations of social actions are central to modern as well as to classic sociology Even in its revised form. the most influential causal theory - the covering law theory- has not proved particularly fruitful for the study of social action. But there are alternative and potentially more fruitful theories. This article presents Weber's methodology and critical realism as two different contributions to a generative view of causality in social science which both try to transcend the protracted controversy between a hermeneutic interpretive sociology and a positivistic causal-explanatory sociology. From the generative standpoint, causal explanations are directed not towards the production of empirical correlations between variables or towards the making of predictions on the basis of empirical laws, but towards the uncovering of causal properties and the processes whereby social actions arise out of the complex interaction of internally related mental dispositions, meanings. intentions, social contexts and structures