How Does It Work?

Abstract

This article addresses the following problems: What is a mechanism, how can it be discovered, and what is the role of the knowledge of mechanisms in scientific explanation and technological control? The proposed answers are these. A mechanism is one of the processes in a concrete system that makes it what it isfor example, metabolism in cells, interneuronal connections in brains, work in factories and offices, research in laboratories, and litigation in courts of law. Because mechanisms are largely or totally imperceptible, they must be conjectured. Once hypothesized they help explain, because a deep scientific explanation is an answer to a question of the form, "How does it work, that is, what makes it tick-what are its mechanisms?" Thus, by contrast with the subsumption of particulars under a generalization, an explanation proper consists in unveiling some lawful mechanism, as when political stability is explained by either coercion, public opinion manipulation, or democratic participation. Finding mechanisms satisfies not only the yearning for understanding, but also the need for control.

A realist analysis of hospital patient safety in Wales: applied learning for alternative contexts from a multisite case study

“…This purposely deviates from the notion of context bifurcated into external and internal domains, 216,358 and echoes the broader realist literature in terms of a sociology divided into levels. 359,360 Moreover, by revealing the mechanisms that operate within and between these conceptual strata, [316][317][318] as each action-level or arena is, simultaneously, a framework for action and a product of action, 330 we carry forward these generative threads into our realist analysis to define the web of mechanisms operating within the focal context.…”

“…307 This aspect of realist inquiry remains underdeveloped, as it demands a highly complex formulation of CMO configurations. [316][317][318] In addition, although it is acknowledged that mechanisms encompass the reasoning of its participants, this aspect of realist inquiry is also little explored, 256 with few studies reporting participants' thoughts about why they chose to change, or indeed adhere to, their established practice (for two exceptions, see Dieleman et al 319 and Jackson et al…”

“…307 This aspect of realist inquiry remains underdeveloped, as it demands the formulation of I-CMAO configurations, which pervade and connect contextual strata, in the form of bidirectional (top-down and bottom-up) nested causal cascades or metamechanisms. [316][317][318] In this study, our aim was to contribute to these conceptual challenges by examining the nuanced demarcation between context and mechanism across defined yet linked contextual strata, each involved in the operationalisation of the 1000 Lives + programme within the Welsh health-care field. Hence, to examine the process of the local implementation of this complex and ambitious patient safety programme, we drew on two fundamental institutional processes -bureaucratisation and normalisation -which, we argue, operate as sociocultural and organisational metamechanisms.…”

Quality management of forest regeneration activities

“…This means that comparisons between hypothetical mechanisms -e.g., feedback loops -in different conditions are made (Bhaskar 1975, Bunge 2004. A special case explanation for certain specified conditions is created through elimination of alternative causes.…”

Leadership in Migration Systems: The Case of Israel

“…Social mechanisms are arrangements of entities and activities that commonly produce a certain type of outcome [10]. Some opinions state that the analysis of social mechanisms is of key significance for advancement in sociological research [11], others contest the use of mechanism-based explanations [12]. It is also said that analysis of social mechanisms is able to help to clarify social phenomena, but not predict them [13].…”