Can the social mechanisms framework be applicable in modeling natural shocks?

Roland Azibo Balgah

Post doctoral fellow, Bamenda University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Military University – Munich and the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Lecturer, University of Bamenda and the Pan African Institute for Development – West Africa, Buea – Cameroon.  P.O.Box 5044 Nkwen – Bamenda, North West Region, Republic of Cameroon.

E-mail: balgazib@yahoo.com; Tel: (+237) 70 51 10 67; (+237) 91 47 42 31

Accepted 19 September, 2012

Abstract

Many sociologists agree to the role of social mechanisms in rigorizing the identification, understanding and analysis of real world social phenomena. This framework has often been used in sociological literature to narrow the gap between pure descriptive and empirical discourse on the one hand and logical, abstract sociological modeling on the other, in modeling social phenomena. This article extends this conventional wisdom in the social science to the analysis of natural shocks, whose rapid upsurge has been observed in recent years. It is argued that an adequate theoretical and methodical approach to informal response mechanisms is prerequisite for understanding and explaining the black box often existing when such shocks occur in developing countries, where formal (state and market) mechanisms often fail or function only partially. Empirical examples are provided to strengthen the argument that understanding formal and informal response mechanisms using the social mechanisms framework can significantly improve analytical rigor, and illuminate any existing black boxes. Natural shocks are further presented as social phenomena that until very recently have not sufficiently attracted the attention of the social scientist.

Keywords: social mechanisms, informal responses, natural shocks, analytical rigor, black box.