Historical+Analysis+of+Political+Processes


 * =Title= || "Historical Analysis of Political Processes” in Jonathan H. Turner, ed., Handbook of Sociological Theory ||
 * =Author= || Charles Tilly ||
 * =Date= || 2001 ||
 * =Summary By= || Efe ||
 * =Summary= || Mainly, Tilly talks about how to investigate social phenomena from a historical perspective. (In simpler words - how to use history)

In terms of historical sociology, Tilly introduces four conceptions of explanation: 1- //Covering law// : explanations consist of subjecting robust empirical genralizations to higher and higher level generalizations. 2- //Propensity// : considers explanation to consist of reconstructing a given actor's state at the threshold of action. 3- //System// : consists of specifying place of soe event, structure, or process within a larger self-maintaining set of interdependent elements. 4- //Mechanism-based// : salient features of episodes, or significant differences among episodes.

In historical analysis, we can have a weak or a strong version. Weak version simply talks about the events that took place in the past. The strong version identifies ways that (1) when and where an event or process occurs affect (2) how it occurs, (3) why it occurs, and (4) with what consequences it occurs. (p.570)

Also, the three strategies he describes at pp.570-1 are worth mentioning. The rest of the chapter deals with the details and implications of these ideas.

=> All political processes operate differently because (i) all political processes incorporate institutions, understandings, and practices that have accumulated historically in their current sites (ii) prior iterations of a given process affect its subsequent iterations. (iii) processes that acquire the same names often result from different causes.

So, given these differences, how can one study them? (1) Analysts might act like historians, and be skeptical about general analyses. (2) Analysts might follow historical sociologists and create subfields. (3) Analysts might (a) get explanation right by regrouping processes into causally similar categories (b) but still treat the application of a certain name to a political process as a phenomenon deserving explanation for its own sake.

Quick side note: This chapter pretty much explains the assumptions Tilly had in Contentious Politics. || - How does categorization help in our understanding of social phenomena? - (Going back to Jackson's class for a sec) Where can we place ethnographic field work in this discussion? || = = = = = = = = = = = =
 * =Discussion points= || - What is the balance between being unique events and being generalizable?

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