Structural explanations matter because environments structure, though they do not prescribe, life outcomes.

Evidence

This is not to say that one can easily strike out for one explanation of responsibility over another. Structural explanations of clients’ circumstances are important in order to direct attention to changing the political, economic, and social structures that circumscribe and dictate the possibilities of action. For if environmental factors do not prescribe life changes they certainly structure the range of opportunities. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1133

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise formulation of structural determination short of determinism—useful vocabulary for tracking how speed of institutionalization is constrained by environment.
• XREF: connects to: Economic level is necessary but not sufficient for explaining other levels; Ambiguous environments let personality shape behavior while structured ones constrain it. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1141

Broader Connections

• Ambiguous environments let personality shape behavior while structured ones constrain it. #corroborates (0.90) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1141
• Economic level is necessary but not sufficient for explaining other levels #corroborates (0.85)