000			02174naa a2200169uu 4500
001			8041715422024
003			OSt
005			20190211163606.0
008			080417s2008 xx ||||gr |0|| 0 eng d
100	1		_aGERRING, John _921367
245	1	0	_aThe Mechanismic Worldview : _bThinking Inside the Box
260			_aCambridge, UK : _bCambridge University Press, _cJanuary 2008
520	3		_aA widespread turn towards mechanism-centred explanations can be viewed across the social sciences in recent decades. This article clarifies what it might mean in practical terms to adopt a mechanismic view of causation. This simple task of definition turns out to be considerably more difficult than it might at first appear. The body of the article elucidates a series of tensions and conflicts within this ambient concept, looking closely at how influential authors have employed this ubiquitous term. It is discovered that ‘mechanism’ has at least nine distinct meanings as the term is used within contemporary social science: (1) the pathway or process by which an effect is produced; (2) an unobservable causal factor; (3) an easy-to-observe causal factor; (4) a context-dependent (bounded) explanation; (5) a universal (or at least highly general) explanation; (6) an explanation that presumes highly contingent phenomena; (7) an explanation built on phenomena that exhibit lawlike regularities; (8) a distinct technique of analysis (based on qualitative, case study, or process-tracing evidence); or (9) a micro-level explanation for a causal phenomenon. Some of these meanings may be combined into coherent definitions; others are obviously contradictory. It is argued, however, that only the first meaning is consistent with all contemporary usages and with contemporary practices within the social sciences; this is therefore proposed as a minimal (core) definition of the concept. The other meanings are regarded as arguments surrounding the core concept
773	0	8	_tBritish Journal of Political Science _g38, 1, p. 161-180 _dCambridge, UK : Cambridge University Press, January 2008 _xISSN 0007-1234 _w
942			_cS
998			_a20080417 _b1542^b _cZailton
999			_aConvertido do Formato PHL _bPHL2MARC21 1.1 _c26214 _d26214
041			_aeng