ABSTRACT
The long-standing interest of sociologists in causal interpretation of statistical relationships has been quickened by discussions focusing on linear causal models. The basic work of bringing such models to the attention of the discipline was done by Blalock, drawing upon the writings of Simon and Wold and Jureen in particular. The rationale of this approach was strengthened when Costner and Leik showed that "asymmetric causal models" of the kind proposed by Blalock afford a natural and operational explication of the notion of "axiomatic deductive theory," which had been developed primarily by sociologists working with verbal formulations. At the same time, Boudon noted that "convincing empirical illustrations are missing," since "moderately complicated causal structures with corresponding data are rather scarce in the sociological literature." Causal diagrams are appearing with increasing frequency in sociological publications.
