Simple diagrams1/23/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() ‘A typology of social mechanisms’ Hedstrom and Swedberg (1998:22)ĭiverging somewhat from this mechanistic tradition, the neoinstitutionalists, Jepperson and Meyer (2011:55), also label The Boat the “Boudon-Coleman” diagram (and see below where they also take the liberty to jazz it up).Ĭoleman diagram from Jepperson and Meyer (2011:55) The one we shall present here takes its departure from James Coleman’s (1986) well-known model for how to conceptualize collective social action, the so-called macro-micro-macro model. In any case, the multiplicity of mechanisms makes it important to introduce some kind of typology that sorts them in a meaningful way. Sometimes these mechanisms counteract one another, and sometimes they work together. Here, The Boat is used to typologize “social mechanisms” (1998:21):Īs several authors in this book point out, explanations of most concrete social events or states require resort to several elementary mechanisms one is not enough. Although they do not make the explicit connection between Coleman and Boudon regarding The Boat, Boudon does feature prominently in their discussion of mechanistic explanations in sociology. Here Manzo also ties the macro to the concept of “structure” and the micro to the concept of “action” – and “interaction” being the links between the two.Ĭoleman-Boudon Diagram from Manzo (2007:42)Īnother key citation of the diagram comes from Hedstrom and Swedberg (1998). Gianluca Manzo (2007), drawing on Bunge, also notes the resemblances between Coleman and Boudon’s model of macro-micro linkage and suggest that both sociologists should be the namesake of The Boat. Thus, they are closet systemists-as Coleman himself admitted in a letter to the writer.īoudon-Coleman Diagrams from Bunge (1997:453-4) I suggest that, despite their professed methodological individualism, both scientists have actually adopted a systemic approach and have shown how to disclose social mechanisms by analyzing social systems into their components and their mutual relations (Boudon 1979 Coleman 1990). I call all of the above Boudon-Coleman diagrams, in honor of two eminent sociologists who have used them consistently (Bunge 1996). Mario Bunge (1997:454), in outlining a “mechanistic” form of social explanation, details a few basic examples of the Macro-Micro-Macro approach using a slightly different visualization: Several authors propose that Coleman and Raymond Boudon converged on the same basic diagram (or, at least, the same basic form of explanation). ![]() Perhaps apocryphal.”Īmerican sociologist, James Coleman (1926-1995). So, sometimes it is “ Coleman’s Bathtub.” According to Colin Beck ( on Mastodon): “Morris recounted that it was originally called a bathtub but when Coleman first presented it at a conferences an attendee yelled out ‘it’s a boat!’ And the name stuck. Namely, because the upside-down trapezoid looks like a boat –although some allude to its affinity to a bathtub. The most infamous is referred to as “Coleman’s Boat” pictured above, from Foundations (p. Skimming Foundations of Social Theory (1990), we see several simple diagrams – mainly, lines with arrows. James Coleman’s oeuvre represents a significant contribution to general social theory, specifically sociological rational choice theory. ‘Causal diagram for relating micro and macro levels’ (1990:702) ![]()
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