Process and Context: A Social Science Causal Approach

How does current social science research balance generalized and specialized explanations? This question needs a systematic review of current methodology. We explored two leading ways of causal reasoning, mechanical causality and counterfactual causality, and concluded that there are two types of identification strategy. Mechanical causality relates to procedural strategy, which highlights key evidence and causal chain; counterfactual causality relates to contextual strategy, which stresses intervention, mediation, and selection. We find that the two strategies have enhanced social science’s ability to map hypotheses to evidence, but they may also encourage scholars to favor specialized explanations. With the use of procedural and contextual strategies, we reexamined Fei Hsiao-tung’s work on peasant life and rural economy, and elaborated the news and risks brought by current trends in social science methodology.