Methods

RCT

1. Vicarious problem-solving. How might rational actors act in a situation
2. Make assumptions and define rationality given the context.
   1. Purposeful behavior
   2. Choice
   3. Maximization

Interpretive and causal understanding

3. Thought experiments. Game theory model where actions depend on the actions of others.
   1. Subjection to static exercises, a series of exogenous shocks. These shocks are then observed for impact on endogenous variables of concern
   2. Desires and beliefs can be exogenous factors of actors since they influence the desires and beliefs of the subjective
   3. Exogenous shocks can also be external physical factors such as weather, etc.
   4. The rational choice theory has a parasitic relationship with material structuralism.
   5. Rationalists are led to quantitative methodologies (for evidence) and positivist philosophy of science (there was an observable intervention).
4. Rationalists account for explanandum (irrational social action) by fitting it into a structure of knowledge; initial conditions (rational desires and beliefs) and general hypotheses (about operation) allow them to deduce anomalous (irrational) phenomenon in question. Rationalists avoid tautology by associating conditions with actions and generating falsifiable predictions.

Structuralism

The structuralist methodology consists of positivist studies of how conditions produce actions and realist studies of structural dynamics.

Structuralists take a causal-realist approach to science. For causal-realists, logical relations are not relations, they look for causal mechanisms rather than empirical correlation.

1. While the building blocks of science consist of objects in space and time, these structures are perhaps unobservable
   1. Theories are about basic building blocks of the world, including their properties and interactions. Entities and structures drive events, thus should be studied.
   2. Real objects and entities exist in the world. Unaffected by our perception and interaction.
   3. Structures exist in time and space.
   4. Real objects and entities which exist may not be observable, only be known through their effects. E.g. gravity
2. A natural kind is a structure that produces recurrent causal processes and self-organizing entities.
   1. The form is what defines a structure.
   2. Kinds of structures are defined by their causal processes.
   3. Structures are self-organizing kinds of entities. Structures go through phases of production, reproduction, and change.
   4. Social kinds are studied through typologies. Social kinds are discovered through the classification of political systems, industrialization, etc.
3. Structures cause.
   1. Structures are causally creative, they drive agents.
   2. Also, effect collective outcomes.
4. Structures construct
   1. Truths are found in the world of relations
   2. Structures define individuals and make interaction possible.

Culturalism

Starting with an intentionalist framework, culturalists try to define how material conditions drive values and cognition which drive action.

1. Interpretation over motives. Socially constructed interpretation of events is more important than a subjective view.
2. Concrete over general; the meaning of particular events over universal cause and effect.
3. Collective over the individual. Study the emotions and attitudes to reveal the identity, action, and social order.
4. Subject over the observer. Culturalists try to see events from the actor’s point of view, rather than impart logic to a historical event.
5. The whole over the parts; one interprets the entire system, not its parts.
6. Constitutive over the causal. Culturalists seek to account for the effect of culture itself. For example, the effect of defining terrorism in security discourse.
7. The unobservable and deep over visible and superficial; understanding concepts of society does not mean understanding society. A deep cultural context is required to investigate motives.