ABSTRACT
Extensive philosophical discussions exist of explanation, especially causal explanation. Explanations of social changes are causal explanations. Even though material events and processes need to be understood scientifically, the fact that, and precisely how, material and other events and processes bear on social affairs typically depends on human practices and social affairs themselves. The social disciplines that investigate social life are ontologically and explanatorily fragmented. The number of components a change or phenomenon possesses can be inscrutable, and where fewer shades over into more can lie in the eyes of the beholder. After World War II, the bourbon industry was in the hands of a few big firms, with a few independents. Practices form bundles through co-location and complexes through dependence or codependence. Driving practices, for example, form bundles with pedestrian and advertising practices in particular locales and with refueling and shopping practices in others.
