1. Causation
In social science studies, events and conditions all have causes. As sociologist seek for the causes for social events, their approaches are called determinism.
Natural sciences widely apply deterministic model such as growth of human being is affected by nutrition and inheritance factors.
Similarly large number of social science studies use deterministic model to investigate causing factors for social events

2. Finding Causes in Social Science
Why the foundation providing a million dollar support to your prejudice research rejected your research conclusion that follows
“We discovered that some people are racially prejudiced and some are not”
The foundation is looking at some explanations/causes why some people become prejudiced and some do not. Such influential factors appeared in many prejudice research report: economic competition, religious ideology, political view, childhood experience, education.

3. Causes in Social Science
Studies in juvenile delinquency uncover the causing factors for the delinquent behaviors that other than the delinquent’s free choice
Social scientists seek understandings of social events, construct causal explanations, and use deterministic model of human behavior.
Some social scientists do not construct causal models, but in pursuing the linkages/associations/relationship among social variables, they inevitably use deterministic model

4. Causation in Idiographic Model
Emphasizing multiplicity of reasons that can account for a specific behavior provides an illustration of idiographic explanation, which aims at explanation by enumerating the many reasons that lie behind a particular events or action
For example, historians can enumerate all the specific causes of the French revolution or perpetual conflicts in the Balkans
A criminologist may look into all possible causes for defendants for a specific crime

5. Pacifici’s Discourse Analysis
Philadelphia eradication of a civil right group MOVE has killed 11 people and destroyed 2 urban block in 1985
Waco, Texas
Dissecting the meaning of communication, Pacifici discovered that police pronouncement is best considered as “a discourse of war”, which makes sense of the tragic results that ensue the conflict.

6. Causality in nomothetic model
Unlike idiographic model that enumerate all the considerations that result in a particular action or event, nomothetic model aim at discovering those most important considerations that explain general classes of actions/events

7. Comparison of idiographic and nomothetic models
Idiographic model to explain prejudice
Try to understand why a particular person chooses to be prejudiced, emphasizing a large number of idiosyncratic conditions and experiences
Nomothetic model seek factors that affect levels of prejudice. For example more educated people are less prejudiced than less educated people.
Nomothetic model is often accused of dehumanizing the individuals. For example, nomothetic model explain religiosity is a function of gender, age, marital status, and social class

8. Comparison of idiographic and nomothetic models 2
Although both methods are looking for causality, they commonly use different types of data. Trying to obtain a great depth of detailed information surrounding a social event, idiographic models normally use qualitative data
In contrast, nomothetic model often use quantitative data to show a general pattern.
For example, idiographic model can produce full accounts for the reasons for a person’s homelessness, whereas nomthetic model can generally tell whether education and gender are predictors for homelessness

9. Criteria for Causality
Relationship between variables does not equal causality
Democratics prefer strawberry to vanilla ice cream
How to determine the causality (one thing causes another)?
(1) credibility or believability of the story
(2) whether rival hypotheses are seriously considered

10. Lazarsfeld’s Three Criteria
Time order, the cause must precede the effect
receive education first, become less prejudiced second
Some time the time order is no easy to establish. Parental education affects children education. But in some rare cases, parents go to school due to the advanced education of their children
The two variables are empirically related
Pearson’s correlation coefficients, regression coefficients. How strong to be strong, how significant to be significant

11. Lazarsfeld’s Three Criteria 2
A casual relation between two variables can not be explained by a third variable
Drowning death
Ice cream sale
Season’s effect

12. Causality
Researchers report a causality when (1) cause precede the effect (event history analysis wins over cross-sectional multivariable regression); (2) empirical correlation high (Pearson’s correlation coefficients); and (3) no spuriousness

13. Necessary and Sufficient Causes
Necessary cause: a condition that must be present for the effect to follow
But a necessary condition does not guarantee the occurrence of the effect, not all the women are pregnant
Women
Pregnant

14. Sufficient condition
A condition, if it is present, guarantees the effect
Skipping a test
Failing the test
Other Causes

15. Difference Between Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
Women
Pregnant

16. Sufficient and Necessary Conditions
Having enough money
Buying a house
Contracting AIDS
Drug use