Why?: What Happens When People Give Reasons . . . and Why

by Charles Tilly

Why? is a book about the explanations we give and how we give them--a fascinating look at the way the reasons we offer every day are dictated by, and help constitute, social relationships. Written in an easy-to-read style by distinguished social historian Charles Tilly, the book explores the manner in which people claim, establish, negotiate, repair, rework, or terminate relations with others through the reasons they give. Tilly examines a number of different types of reason giving. For example, he shows how an air traffic controller would explain the near miss of two aircraft in several different ways, depending upon the intended for an acquaintance at a cocktail party, he might shrug it off by saying "This happens all the time," or offer a chatty, colloquial rendition of what transpired; for a colleague at work, he would venture a longer, more technical explanation, and for a formal report for his division head he would provide an exhaustive, detailed account. Tilly demonstrates that reasons fall into four different

"I'm sorry I spilled my coffee; I'm such a klutz." "My friend betrayed me because she was jealous of my sister." Technical cause-effect "A short circuit in the ignition system caused the engine rotors to fail." Codes or workplace "We can't turn over the records. We're bound by statute 369." Tilly illustrates his topic by showing how a variety of people gave reasons for the 9/11 attacks. He also demonstrates how those who work with one sort of reason frequently convert it into another sort. For example, a doctor might understand an illness using the technical language of biochemistry, but explain it to his patient, who knows nothing of biochemistry, by using conventions and stories. Replete with sparkling anecdotes about everyday social experiences (including the author's own), Why? makes the case for stories as one of the great human inventions.

Genres: Sociology, Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Social, Society, Social Science

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Charles Tilly was an American sociologist, political scientist, and historian renowned for his pioneering contributions to the study of social change, state formation, and contentious politics. A prolific scholar, Tilly authored over 600 articles and more than 50 books, shaping disciplines ranging from sociology and history to political science. His research was grounded in large-scale, comparative historical analysis, exemplified by his influential works Coercion, Capital, and European States, Durable Inequality, and Dynamics of Contention.
Tilly began his academic career after earning his doctorate in sociology from Harvard University, where he studied under noted figures like George C. Homans and Barrington Moore Jr. He taught at several major institutions, including the University of Michigan, The New School, and ultimately Columbia University, where he held the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professorship of Social Science.
He developed a distinctive theoretical approach that rejected simplistic, static models of society, instead emphasizing dynamic processes and relational mechanisms. Tilly’s theories of state formation, particularly his provocative comparison of war-making and state-making to organized crime, remain central in political sociology. He also played a key role in the evolution of historical sociology and the relational sociology movement, especially through his collaborations and influence on the New York School.
A leading theorist of social movements, Tilly outlined how modern protest became structured around campaigns, repertoires of contention, and public displays of unity, worthiness, numbers, and commitment. His work with scholars like Sidney Tarrow and Doug McAdam further redefined the field by linking social movements to broader political processes.
Tilly received numerous honors, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as multiple honorary doctorates. His legacy endures through awards bearing his name and through continued influence on generations of social scientists.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s the social, stupid!

This is a short book that is a kind of testament of Charles Tilly, a renowned American social historian who died in 2008. Tilly specialized in social processes, especially those at political level on a fairly large scale. But here he zooms in on a micro level, namely on individuals and how they explain certain things in their lives, what the causes are they see in the big and small things that affect them.

The booklet starts in the midst of the chaos of 9/11 and how people from different perspectives try to explain what is going on. Armed with those very contradictory explanations, Tilly starts a more systematic exposition, classifying the reasons given by people in 4 categories: conventions (everyday wisdom), stories (linear cause-effect sequences), codes (formalist lists, such as laws) and finally expertise reports. Of all four, he gives extensive, concrete examples and indicates the strengths and weaknesses.

It is no coincidence that Tilly comes to the conclusion that in almost all cases the statements given by people primarily serve a social purpose, namely confirming, adjusting, or even ending the relationship between the person who declares and the person who receives the message. The bottom line is that we always formulate our explanations in function of the person or persons we speak to. Of course it is the sociologist in Tilly who speaks here, and I think that by doing that he has narrowed his field of view a bit too much. But at least it is a way of looking at individual explanations that does not immediately catch the eye, and is therefore a valuable addition.

Tilly finally makes a plea for experts, especially social scientists, to turn their specialized research findings (technical accounts) into what he calls "superior stories" as much as possible. Because stories remain the most appealing form to really reach a public. And that also comes as no surprise.

[MURAT BAYRAKTAR · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,5 yıldız..
Karşımızda Amerikalı bir sosyoloğun '' Neden? Düşüncelerimizin ve Davranışlarımızın Altında Yatan Nedenler '' isimli Vakıfbank Kültür Yayınları tarafından çok kaliteli şekilde basılmış bir kitabı var. Sırf bu sebeple umutla almıştım kitabı ancak hayal kırıklığı oldu ve hiç beğenmedim. Kitap 2019'da çevirilip basılmış olmasına rağmen aslında 2006'da yazılmış ve ismi bilerek yanlış çevrilmiş. (yanlışlıkla olacak bir şey değil çünkü) Kitabın ismi içeriği ile tamamen alakasız. Kitap henüz yeni basılmış olmasına rağmen -3 yıl önce- dediğim gibi aslında 2006'da yazılmış fakat içerik bakımından, anlattığı konular itibariyle eskimiş ve artık ilgi çekiciliği kaybetmiş.

Konusunun büyük bir kısmını 9/11 saldırısına odaklayıp, geri kalanını da insanların neden sebep sunması, neden göstermesi üzerine başlayıp sonra da daldan dala atlayarak köşe yazısına döndermesi ile tam bir hayal kırıklığı yarattı bende. Anlattıklarını hiçbir neden sonuç ilişkisine dayandıramadığı gibi her hangi bir yere de bağlayamadı C. Tilly. Lafı durmadan dolandırıp çoğu kez aynı yere gelip özgün bir şey ortaya koyamamakla birlikte fikir de ortaya koymuyor. Başlıktaki o düşünce davranış nedenlerine veya her hangi bir sosyolojik incelemeye şahit olamadık maalesef. Çevirisini de hiç beğenmedim. Çok kötü bir çeviriydi ve o da kitabı daha sıkıcı hale getirdi. Özellikle bazı kelime çevirileri ile iyice göze battı Ahmet Fethi. Örneğin ''KOD'' kelimesini yanlış ve alakasız şekilde kullanmış ve yazar da bunu kitap boyunca belki 200 kere geçirdi. Kod kelimesi yerine tüzük, kanun, kılavuz veya yönetmelik gibi kelimeler ile anlamı bozmadan çok daha yerinde şekilde çevirebilirken her yerde kod kelimesini kullanarak beni çok rahatsız etti.

Vasatın bile altında bir kitaptı. Ne niye yazıldığını anlayabildim ne de VBKY tarafından niye dilimize çevirildiğini.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't actually about "why" in the traditional social science sense--why particular events happen and others don't. It is rather a unique and insightful exercise is social psychology; it's a about how people answer the "why" question, and how different social situation and different questioners effect how we answer "why" questions.

Tilly makes a very wise choice by ignoring any effort to think about the accuracy or applicability of different "why" answers to the actual event being explained, and focuses his energies on the structure of the types of reasons given, and more importantly, the social situations in which we give some kinds of reasons. Not surprisingly, the sorts of why answers we give depend a great deal on the social relationship to the person or institution we're addressing; Tilly helps us see, in clear, concise terms, how our reason-giving strategies can either shore up or disrupt existing power and/or class relations. What kind of why answers confirm existing power/class dynamics, and what kinds of answers disrupt them?

Most of what he argues is actually somewhat intuitive, once you think about it. Of course, without a reason to, it's not the kind of topic we think about broadly. The power of the book lies not in generating counterintuitive findings but to approach analytically and rigorously an everyday life process and thereby illuminate (and giving explanatory power) to something as simple as reason-giving narrative habits in social life.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and excellent look at the four kinds of explanations and their effect on creating, confirming, modifying, and ending social relations. (Convention, Narratives, Technical cause-effect accounts,
Codes or workplace jargon). Mismatches between preferred modes of explanation can lead to much angst and drama with neither side understanding why the other side is going ballistic.

If you've ever wondered why the other person was making a big deal out of nothing, or was ignoring something you thought was really important, I think you'd find this book very interesting. Also highly recommended for technical people communicating with managers, vice versa, and everyone else.

[Rory Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is easier to say what ‘why’ isn’t, rather than what it is. It isn’t a psychological study, in the sense of citing evidence and surveys. It isn’t a neurological study which looks at brain states and their relationships to the providing of explanation. Nor is it an entirely sociological description of how and when people engage with ‘why’ questions, as the author is not nervous of adding commentary and his own understanding of explanations.

What the book does well is to set out a theory of 4 types of explanations which people give. There are ‘conventions’ (such as the use of formulaic expressions). There are ‘stories’ which use narratives to convey cause and effect relationships. There are ‘codes’ which explain by invoking a code or rule or custom as the basis for the explanation. And then there are ‘technical accounts’ which are typically descriptive in the language of science, medicine or whatever other profession is giving an explanation.

The body of the book consists of explaining each type of the four explanations in four chapters. The chapters provide examples and further commentary illustrating usage.

Where I was a little disappointed is that the book only focused upon the communications of explanations. It didn’t probe the separate area of explanation itself. For example, someone might sell their house and decide to sail around the world. If we asked ‘why’ then it isn’t clear that an explanation would fit any of the four models provided in the book.

This shows that there is an aspect of explanation which is about the human spirit, and yearning for fulfillment. Strangely that doesn’t feature at all, although arguably understanding why humans do things is presumably a more ultimately source of explanation than merely focusing upon the four types of explanations which they give.

Overall, this book made an interesting point, but it felt more like something that could have been said in half a dozen pages, rather than spread across the book devoted to it. And it also felt like there were aspects missing. I’m not sure I would recommend reading the whole book, as its essential ideas are largely provided in the introduction which outlines the four types of explanation.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, even though it was not what I expected. I was hoping for a book about the value of asking 'why' as a trigger for research, information and intellectual movement.

This is not that book...

This is actually a book about reasons. The reasons that people use to explain the issues, errors, flaws and problems in their life. There is a strong use of Goffman, and some intriguing - and different - theorization of storytelling.

This book is not really about a 'why.' Instead it is about how people justify their errors, mis-steps, flaws and problems. It is in intriguing lens on this issue.

[Larry Bernstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend

A fabulous book that explains why we use stories to explain complex phenomenon in lieu of technical specifics. A compelling argument. I highly recommend this book.

[Reading]

《为什么》（美）查尔斯·蒂利。

[Rati Shubladze · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had higher expectations. Sort of a Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking Fast and Slow" for social sciences, alas less informative and in-depth. However, worth reading.

[Ayush Sinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really eye opening. I’m naive about truth sometimes and I am sensitive to people “lying”, this book helps me make sense of what people are really doing.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Tilly, noted sociologist and historian, sets out to understand the reasons people give for various events and phenomena. Motivated in part by 9/11 and the questions that followed this tragic event, Tilly describes our nature to ask the "why" question: Why did this terrorist attack occur? Why do some people get cancer? Why is the U.S. such a violent country relative to other western nations? Why did the heiress make her young male caretaker the heir to her multimillion dollar fortune and leave her children with pennies?

Tilly examines four general categories of reasons:
(1) Conventions: "it's luck"; "the train was late"
(2) Stories: "I'll tell you what the terrorist's life was like before the bombing"
(3) Codes: legal judgments, group norms
(4) Technical accounts: the doctor telling the patient about the growth of tumors.

In providing a chapter on each category, Tilly shows how each is used in different contexts. He also concludes with a recommendation that those who are trained to provide technical accounts would do well to learn to tell what he calls "superior stories." To quote: "Instead of making specialists out of your audience members, translate your message into a form they will already grasp. 'Superior stories' will often to the job" (p.171).

This book is designed mainly for an academic audience, although researchers who are trained to give technical explanations to why questions will benefit by being given a broader picture of not only the motivation for such questions by lay and expert alike, but also how to achieve greater understanding of their work by the general public. I think it may also benefit all those researchers who grow frustrated with the press when they see their hard and complicated work reduced to a couple of lines of newspaper (hypertext) print.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I remember not a lot about this book. I remember it had a bunch of points that struck me as quite insightful when I read them, and still seem insightful every time I see a reference to this work in a newspaper article.

I imagine if I had committed better to my own memory his explanations behind the different kinds of reasons for doing things, I'd be a better more understanding person for it.

[Tristan Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I really love when sociologists write books for fun, and it's clear that that is precisely why Tilly chose this topic. It's a wonderful review of all the ways that people ask "why?" and what they mean. I bought the book after reading Gladwell's review of it, and I'll admit, I like the way Gladwell writes about the topic a bit more than Tilly - but the ideas are really great and Tilly did a wonderful job boiling his ideas down to their basic essence. Fun read.

[Lianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas about how peoples' explanations change based on who they're talking to, reason giving as a cornerstone for building or destroying relationships, and the nonverbal signals people send through body language. Really worthwhile read.

[Ryan Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

obvious generalities. the author cites himself and his kids to support his conclusions that aren't ground breaking. nepotism in a nonfic.