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Related Experiment Video

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A Complex Diving-For-Food Task to Investigate Social Organization and Interactions in Rats

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Published on: May 8, 2021

Top-down causation and social structures.

Dave Elder-Vass¹

¹Department of Social Sciences , Loughborough University , Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU , UK.

Interface Focus

|February 7, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This paper explains top-down causation in social sciences using critical realism. It introduces norm circles as social entities influencing institutions, while acknowledging limitations in applying this concept to social structures.

Keywords:

downward causation emergence norm circles social ontology social structure

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Area of Science:

Social Sciences
Sociology
Philosophy of Social Science

Background:

Top-down causation is often implied in sociological theories of social structure.
The social sciences have historically lacked a clear framework for understanding top-down causation.
Existing models struggle to explain how social structures influence individual actions and events.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a critical realist perspective on causation and emergence.
To develop a coherent account of top-down causation applicable to the social world.
To examine the role of social entities, such as norm circles, in social influence.

Main Methods:

Summarizing critical realist philosophy of causation and emergence.
Applying critical realist concepts to sociological phenomena.
Analyzing the concept of 'norm circles' as social entities responsible for institutional influence.

Main Results:

A critical realist framework supports a plausible account of top-down causation in social contexts.
Norm circles are identified as social entities exerting causal influence on normative institutions.
The compositional level structure of reality has limitations when applied to differently structured social entities.

Conclusions:

Top-down causation can be coherently accounted for in the social sciences through critical realism.
Social entities like norm circles offer a mechanism for understanding institutional influence.
Further examination is needed to fully understand the operation of top-down causation in the social domain.