Abstract

This article presents the main features and objectives of the so-called social mechanisms-based explanation or analytical sociology. This perspective has gained quite a bit of attention in the contemporary debate, both for its theoretical novelty as well as for its empirical results. In the first part of the article I will describe the key concepts, main scholars and institutional strengths of this approach. Here I also point to the main obstacles that had prevented the establishing of this perspective: namely the influence of positivism. In the second part I will outline the relationships between the analytical sociology perspective and the main trends in contemporary sociology, both theoretical and empirical. In the third part three core principles of the approach will be outlined: the idea of causal process, the relevance of multilevel theory and the prominence of formal theories and models.