Coupling social and ecological mechanisms with the Coleman boat

As in many other fields, mechanism-based theorizing has become increasingly popular in social-ecological research. However, calls for mechanism-based explanations and middle-range theorizing have remained relatively abstract. In the social sciences, the Coleman diagram provides heuristic aid to figure out mechanisms for macro-scale causal claims. The diagram, understood as a series of analytical questions, helps to connect macro processes and agents’ behaviors causally and to build understanding of how the macro effects get generated. This paper argues that the Coleman diagram can also be helpful in advancing mechanism-based theorizing in social-ecological research. Using an updated version of the diagram, we show how to incorporate ecological and social-ecological mechanisms into social explanations. The paper systematically explores how social and ecological mechanisms could intertwine with each other and illustrates them with brief examples. It also introduces the concepts of an action situation, mental states, and agent capacities to dissect the interface between agency and social-ecological change. Finally, the paper discusses how the diagram can integrate various forms of causal complexity. The ecologically expanded Coleman’s diagram contributes both to social-ecological research and social theory. It provides a concrete tool for integrating social and ecological theorizing using the idea of a mechanism-based explanation, and it also shows that mechanism-based theorizing is a viable avenue for developing more ambitious interdisciplinary theories about significant challenges both people and ecosystems face.