tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post4558593060691530738..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Are there patterns of economic development?Dan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-39595995637018100862008-04-26T13:16:00.000-04:002008-04-26T13:16:00.000-04:00BB --Thanks for your comment. You're right that t...BB --<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comment. You're right that there's a strong connection between this line of thought and "Varieties of Capitalism" (Peter Hall and David Soskice). Both maintain that the specific institutional makeup of an economic system -- even with variants that look fairly similar -- can give rise to distinctive economic characteristics. I think the Hall-Soskice approach is more specifically focused on a relatively small number of institutional variants. And Sabel and Zeitlin focus more on the organization of work, skill, and technology as a source of variation across economic systems.<BR/><BR/>The 1/8/08 posting on this blog is relevant ("Is there such a thing as capitalism?"):<BR/><BR/>http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-there-such-thing-as-capitalism.htmlDan Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-15833099309518450632008-04-25T14:10:00.000-04:002008-04-25T14:10:00.000-04:00Nick,This is a great question. I consider somethi...Nick,<BR/><BR/>This is a great question. I consider something like this point in an earlier posting:<BR/><BR/>http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2008/04/are-there-discrete-social-mechanisms.html<BR/><BR/>There I make the case for going down considerably deeper. What is challenging about that idea, though, is that it seems to threaten to dissolve the concept of a causal mechanism altogether. <BR/><BR/>So I'm thinking that perhaps it is possible to arrive at a mid- to low-level of description of causal mechanisms like free-rider problems, and then examine the workings of these mechanisms across contexts.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for responding!<BR/><BR/>DanDan Littlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-15573001718511034292008-04-25T12:21:00.000-04:002008-04-25T12:21:00.000-04:00Hello Daniel,Thank you for your thoughtful post. O...Hello Daniel,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your thoughtful post. One question: what are the differences between what you´re describing and the "Varieties of Capitalism" literature (especially the focus on mechanisms and "institutional complementarities")?<BR/>Best,<BR/>BBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-83588355679477308582008-04-25T00:52:00.000-04:002008-04-25T00:52:00.000-04:00Hi Daniel,I find the social mechanisms approach yo...Hi Daniel,<BR/>I find the social mechanisms approach you've been outlining on this blog to be really interesting and useful, and I'm very open to the idea of theorizing social processes in that way. But a question I've come up against in my own work is that, considering mechanisms are a reaction against overly general, structural theories, what makes us stop solely at the mid-level processes? Why not go further and focus on even smaller level mechanisms?<BR/><BR/>My sense is that the mid-level theorizing tries to retain the best of both worlds (generality and explanatory force from the large-scale, and specificity and dynamism from the small-scale).<BR/><BR/>There's also an interesting suggestion in <I>Dynamics of Contention</I> that mechanisms could be conceived as being composed of smaller mechanisms, which would also seem to get at a possible solution.<BR/><BR/>But I'd be interested to hear what you have to say on it!<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>-NickN.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11249740746337537033noreply@blogger.com