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"This post represents something of a departure from the usual themes of this blog, since it does not deal directly with questions of economic behavior, money or markets. However, it does address "big picture" issues in scientific inquiry, which affect all realms of sociological research. Specifically, the post builds on an analogy drawn by Wolfgang Streeck in his new book, Re-Forming Capitalism: Institutional Change in the German Political Economy (Oxford 2009). His account of epistemology in social science, and its resemblance to the advance of knowledge within evolutionary theory, struck me-to my surprise-as a particularly compelling way to frame the contribution of qualitative research to sociology. The devaluation of qualitative sociology as "unscientific" and of dubious value compared to quantitative research has always struck me as ill-considered; Streeck's work provided a way to articulate a response that went right to the heart of the debate. "

The Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis is a cross-disciplinary research group located in the School of Social Sciences. The centre's mission is to be a world leading centre in the development and application of social network analysis techniques. The centre is named after J Clyde Mitchell, who pioneered this approach whilst a member of staff at Manchester. See below for extracts from an interview with Clyde Mitchell recorded by Russ Bernard in 1990.

Economic sandwich... SELC is offering to think and create laws that allow for the new forms that we are creating.