Current Issues in Comparative Macrosociology

Abstract

Abstract ISEEK in this chapter to intervene in what is in fact a rather long-standing debate within comparative macrosociology, but one which appears of late to have acquired new vigour. The contending parties in this debate are now usually characterized as exponents of quantitative, ‘variable-oriented’ methodologies, on the one hand, and of qualitative, ‘case-oriented’ methodologies, on the other (see e.g. Ragin 1987; Rueschemeyer 1991; Janoski and Hicks 1994). I shall, however, argue that, while the issues caught up in the protracted and complex exchanges that have occurred do include ones of major importance, the form that the debate has taken has not been especially helpful in highlighting just what these issues are, nor yet in pointing to ways in which they might be more effectively addressed.