Critical realism and analytic sociology support what can be called explanation by mechanism (EbM). EbM consists of three distinct theses. The elaboration thesis says that mere observation of interdependencies cannot be considered a full explanation because it does not give a description of how...

Abductive and retroductive inference are innovative tools of analysis which enable researchers to refine and redevelop social theory. This paper describes and demonstrates how to apply these tools to strengthen sociological theory-driven empirical research outputs. To illustrate how abductive...

This article encourages sociologists to take a hybrid approach to the incorporation of public sociology into the discipline. The idea of public sociology rests upon a double conversation between sociologists as public actors, and the involvement of the \'extra-academic\' world into the dialogue....

It is widely assumed that there is a high level of medical pluralism in contemporary society. For example, both orthodox and non- orthodox medicines are simultaneously available to the public. What forms the boundaries that demarcate orthodox medicines from non-orthodox ones? These issues arise...

Critical sociolinguistics (conceived as Critical Discourse Analysis: CDA), which has a focus on inclusive and exclusive language within social practice, can be used to shed light on underlying aspects of recent debates about the appointment of homosexual bishops in the UK and USA. One strand of...

The concept cosmopolitanism has the potential of becoming one of the most interesting social scientific tools for understanding contemporary social life. Operationalising it however, has proved a difficult task. Here, researchers utilise different single indicators while making claims towards...