Comment on Andrew Abbott/3

Abstract

Abstract: Reacting to the original papers outlining the importance of “social mechanisms,” thispaper contrasts two views of the social process, the mechanismal and the relational. In the sourceshere analyzed, the mechanismal perspective is largely based on methodological individualismand generally presupposes rational, or at least intentional, action. A fundamental assumption ofthis approach is that the meaning of an action is given in itself. The relational view by contrastholds that the meaning of an action arises only from its relation to other actions, both temporallyand structurally. The relational view takes not actors but interaction as primitive and focuseson the scene (context) of action rather than the intentions of actors. The paper investigatesthese differences by examining the Elsterian mechanisms of “endowment” and “contrast,”both theoretically and through the example of application of students to institutions of highereducation in America. Keywords: legitimacy, relational explanation, identity, institution, convention.