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What are mechanisms in social science?

Pierre Demeulenaere (ed.): Analytical sociology and social mechanisms. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011, ix+320pp, $32.99 PB

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Correspondence to Bert Leuridan.

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Bert Leuridan is Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO).

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Leuridan, B. What are mechanisms in social science?. Metascience 21, 395–398 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-011-9610-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-011-9610-9

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