From How to Why

Causality and Theory in Historical Sociology

Abstract

How can historical sociologists construct generalizable theories through in-depth single case analysis? Inspired by theory-oriented ethnography, this paper proposes a framework for historical sociologists to construct externally valid theories. In recent years, ethnographers have attempted to construct causal and generalizable theories while maintaining their interpretive and descriptive character. These theory-oriented ethnographersʼ constitutive arguments provide a detailed description of “how” certain phenomena and characteristics arose to develop a theoretical explanation of “why” these emerged. This paper refines the constitutive argument and develops a method for historical sociologists to produce an externally valid theory from a single case study. Historical sociologists focusing on the possibility sphere of actors develop generalizable theories of why certain outcomes emerged and changed, by describing how certain explanatory variables were put forth and abandoned as possible options for historical actors, at each point in time.