Multiple Levels of Analysis and the Limitations of Methodological Individualisms

Jepperson, Ronald L.; Meyer, John W.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9558.2010.01387.x

Cited by 224 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…Here, we can think perhaps of the demographic imbalance which means that the chances of finding a spouse are much reduced without migration (perhaps we always have to turn this round to examine individuals' exercise of agency in response to this structural constraint). Jepperson and Meyer (2011) take this further to recognise causal influences at the individual, socio-organisational and institutional level.…”

Section: Systems In Social Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Relaunching migration systems

Bakewell¹

2013

Migration Studies

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The concept of the migration system, first popularised in the 1970s, has remained a staple component of any review of migration theory. Since then, it has been cast somewhat adrift from its conceptual moorings; today in the literature migration systems are generally either conflated with migrant networks or elevated to the heights of macro-level abstraction which divorces them from any empirical basis. At the same time, by taking on board more sophisticated notions of agency, emergence, and social mechanisms, the broader concept of the social system has moved on from the rather discredited structural-functionalist marina where it was first launched. In recent years, having been rejected by many social theorists, the social system has been subject to major reconstruction prior to its re-launch as a respectable and valuable area of social enquiry. This paper argues that, for the most part, these developments in systems theory have been ignored by those applying the concept of systems to the analysis of migration. It addresses the question of how the concept of the migration system can be reformulated in the light of these theoretical advances and what implications this may have for our research and analysis. Non-technical summaryIn recent years debates about the idea of the 'social system' have been reinvigorated by accounts drawing on notions of agency, emergence, and social mechanisms. This paper argues that these developments in systems theory have largely been ignored by those applying the concept of systems to the analysis of migration. The paper addresses the question of how the concept of the migration system can be reformulated in the light of these theoretical advances and what implications this may have for our research and analysis.

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Section: Systems In Social Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Relaunching migration systems

Bakewell¹

2013

Migration Studies

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“…Alternatively, disaggregation bias occurs when causal mechanisms are reduced to micro-or individuallevel explanations (Jepperson & Meyer, 2011;McAdam et al, 2001). Micro-level entrepreneurship research is particularly prone to the disaggregation bias, since many published studies focus on individual-level outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untapped Riches of Meso-Level Applications in Multilevel Entrepreneurship Mechanisms

Kim

Wennberg

Croidieu

2016

AMP

123

120

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“…Scarr's point about aggregation levels has been reiterated by sociologists (Jepperson and Meyer 2011). They argue that multiple levels of analysis, the individual and the social system, are needed to explain social dynamics.…”

Section: Methodological Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

The status–power arena: a comprehensive agent-based model of social status dynamics and gender in groups of children

2018

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Despite the urgency of this issue, AI still struggles to represent social life. This article presents a comprehensive agent-based model that investigates status-power dynamics in groups. Kemper's sociological status-power theory of social relationships, and a literature review on school children in middle youth, is its basis. The model allows us to investigate causation of the near-ubiquitous phenomenon that females have lower social status on average than males. Possible causes included in the model are children's dispositional traits (kindness, beauty, and physical power), schoolyard culture (social acceptability of fighting), behavioural strategy (amount of rough-and-tumble play) and the balance between public and dyadic sources of status. An agent-based model of a virtual schoolyard was created in which the children assemble in changing groups and mutually confer status. The status conferred upon a child modifies the status it holds. Rough-and-tumble is modelled as ambiguous: it is intended as a status conferral, but may be perceived as a power move. Running many trials of the model we found that in time, depending on the parameter settings, a gender-based status gap emerged. Rough-and-tumble play had more impact on emergent status differences than did physical power differences. Social acceptability of fighting also strongly moderated the resulting status gap. Placing more weight on dyadic relationship could alleviate status loss. All these model behaviours are in line with empirical findings of child behaviour studies at schools. They have face validity for social status issues in the adult world. We conclude from this that this kind of agent-based model merits use in studying the status-power dynamics of other issues in child behaviour, or indeed in social behaviour in general.

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Multiple Levels of Analysis and the Limitations of Methodological Individualisms

Cited by 224 publications

References 65 publications

Relaunching migration systems

Relaunching migration systems

Untapped Riches of Meso-Level Applications in Multilevel Entrepreneurship Mechanisms

The status–power arena: a comprehensive agent-based model of social status dynamics and gender in groups of children

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