tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post2941194786850986428..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Is sociology analogous to epidemiology?Dan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-17999756400885313362008-05-04T13:02:00.000-04:002008-05-04T13:02:00.000-04:00Interesting post! Yet I think you might over estim...Interesting post! Yet I think you might over estimate how "discrete" and "well-defined" are the causal mechanisms that contribute to disease. In fact, epidemiologist Bruce Link and others are working on the concept "fundamental cause" see: http://www.mhsip.org/pdfs/link.pdf<BR/>Social factors can influence health and disease through numerous potential mechanisms in complicated and non-deterministic ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-89445017968468723822008-04-22T08:59:00.000-04:002008-04-22T08:59:00.000-04:00Your discussion points out why it is so necessary ...Your discussion points out why it is so necessary to do sociological research in both the large-N quantitative style and the small-N comparative/qualitative style. In order to be confident about the relationships we find in data sets, we must clearly identify the causal mechanisms at work. Some famous epidemiological findings began with the discovery of an association before identifying the mechanism at work (e.g., the identification of certain wells and incidence of cholera). In that way, sociology and epidemiology are not so different.Treyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152387741904272504noreply@blogger.com