The Problem of Infinite Regress : A Process-Tracing Exercise

How can social scientists uncover the root causes of contemporary outcomes? Many scholars have assumed that the problem of infinite regress poses a central impediment to this endeavor. However, there have been few attempts to clearly conceptualize infinite regress or empirically explore how it is a problem. This article undertakes the challenge. I conceptualize infinite regress as the cycle initiated when assessing the relative weight of proximal versus distal causes. I then build on Mahoney, Kimball, and Koivu’s ‘sequence elaboration’ method to show how it can weigh distal causes. The bulk of the article then applies sequence elaboration to four historically-oriented books on diverse subjects: religious riots, governance, federalism, and mothers’ employment. Surprisingly, none of the books feature distal causes that are more important than proximate causes. Scholars are advised that diagramming causal chains and using sequence elaboration are concrete steps to locate the deepest causes of a given outcome