These essays, written by prominent social scientists, advance criticisms of current trends in social theory and suggest alternative approaches.

Acknowledgements; List of contributors; 1. Social mechanisms: an introductory essay Peter Hedström and Richard Swedberg; 2. Social mechanisms and social dynamics Thomas C. Schelling; 3. A plea for mechanisms Jon Elster; 4. Real virtuality Gudmund Hernes; 5. Concatenations of mechanisms Diego Gambetta; 6. Do economists use social mechanisms to explain? Tyler Cowen; 7. Social mechanisms of dissonance reduction Timur Kuran; 8. Social mechanisms without black boxes Raymond Boudon; 9. Is sociological theory too grand for social mechanisms? Axel van den Berg; 10. Theoretical mechanisms and the empirical study of social processes Aage B. Sørensen; 11. Monopolistic competition as a mechanism: corporations, universities, and nation-states in competitive fields Arthur L. Stinchcombe; 12. Rational imitation Peter Hedström; Indexes.