The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology

The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology
Author: François Dépelteau
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 677
Release: 2018-01-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319660055

This handbook on relational sociology covers a rapidly growing approach in the social sciences—one which is connected to the interests of a large, diverse pool of researchers across a range of disciplines. Relational sociology has been one of the key foundations of the “relational turn” in human sciences since the 1980s, and it offers a unique opportunity to redefine the basic epistemological and ontological principles of sociology as we know it. The contributors collected here aim to elucidate the complexity and the scope of this growing approach by dealing with three central questions: Where does relational sociology come from and what are its principal concerns? What are the main theoretical and methodological currents within relational sociology? What have we studied in relational sociology and what are the results?

Relational Sociology

Relational Sociology
Author: Pierpaolo Donati
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2010-07-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 113527309X

Much of our concept of society has been defined by sociology's dual focuses: individuals, and groups. In this eagerly awaited book, Donati shifts focus to the relationships between people, and explains this new 'relational sociology' in detail.

Conceptualizing Relational Sociology

Conceptualizing Relational Sociology
Author: C. Powell
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013-12-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 113734265X

Edited by François Depelteau and Christopher Powell, this volume and its companion, Applying Relational Sociology: Networks, Relations, addresses fundamental questions about what relational sociology is and how it works.

Towards Relational Sociology

Towards Relational Sociology
Author: Nick Crossley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2010-09-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134019351

Towards Relational Sociology argues that social worlds comprise networks of interaction and relations. Crossley asserts that relations are lived trajectories of iterated interaction, built up through a history of interaction, but also entailing anticipation of future interaction. In addition, he demonstrates how networks comprise multiple dyadic relations which are mutually transformed through their combination. On this conceptual basis he builds a relational foundation for sociology. Over the course of the book, three central sociological dichotomies are addressed - individualism/holism, structure/agency and micro/macro – and utilised as a foil against which to construct the case for relational sociology. Through this, Crossley is able to argue that neither individuals nor ‘wholes’ - in the traditional sociological sense - should take precedence in sociology. Rather sociologists should focus upon evolving and dynamic networks of interaction and relations. The book covers many of the key concepts and concerns of contemporary sociology, including identity, power, exchange and meaning. As such it is an invaluable reference tool for postgraduate students and researchers alike.

The Self, Relational Sociology, and Morality in Practice

The Self, Relational Sociology, and Morality in Practice
Author: Owen Abbott
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2019-10-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030318222

Winner of the 2020 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Prize Providing a theory of moral practice for a contemporary sociological audience, Owen Abbott shows that morality is a relational practice achieved by people in their everyday lives. He moves beyond old dualisms—society versus the individual, social structure versus agency, body versus mind—to offer a sociologically rigorous and coherent theory of the relational constitution of the self and moral practice, which is both shared and yet enacted from an individualized perspective. In so doing, The Self, Relational Sociology, and Morality in Practice not only offers an urgently needed account of moral practice and its integral role in the emergence of the self, but also examines morality itself within and through social relations and practices. Abbott’s conclusions will be of interest to social scientists and philosophers of morality, those working with pragmatic and interactionist approaches, and those involved with relational sociology and social theory.

Applying Relational Sociology

Applying Relational Sociology
Author: François Dépelteau
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2013-12-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781137379917

From networks to fields to figurations to discourses, relational ideas have become common in social science, and a distinct relational sociology has emerged over the past decade and a half. But so far, this paradigm shift has raised as many questions as it answers. Just what are 'relations', precisely? How do we observe and measure them? How does relational thinking change what we already know about society? What new questions does it invite us to ask? This volume and its companion volume Conceptualizing Relational Sociology: Ontological and Theoretical Issues bring together, for the first time, the leading experts and up-and-coming scholars in the field to address fundamental questions about what relational sociology is and how it works.

The Relational Subject

The Relational Subject
Author: Pierpaolo Donati
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2015-06-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1316381358

Many social theorists now call themselves 'relational sociologists', but mean entirely different things by it. The majority endorse a 'flat ontology', dealing exclusively with dyadic relations. Consequently, they cannot explain the context in which relationships occur or their consequences, except as resultants of endless 'transactions'. This book adopts a different approach which regards 'the relation' itself as an emergent property, with internal causal effects upon its participants and external ones on others. The authors argue that most 'relationists' seem unaware that analytical philosophers, such as Searle, Gilbert and Tuomela, have spent years trying to conceptualize the 'We' as dependent upon shared intentionality. Donati and Archer change the focus away from 'We thinking' and argue that 'We-ness' derives from subjects' reflexive orientations towards the emergent relational 'goods' and 'evils' they themselves generate. Their approach could be called 'relational realism', though they suggest that realists, too, have failed to explore the 'relational subject'.

Relational Sociology and Research on Schools, Colleges, and Universities

Relational Sociology and Research on Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Author: William G. Tierney
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2020-05-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1438478259

Relational sociology was conceived by theorists frustrated by what they viewed as an incomplete accounting of social reality. Torn between notions of structural rigidity, on the one hand, and rational choice individualism, on the other, relational sociologists have sought new units of analysis. Social reality, they have argued, is manufactured through relationships. People are who they are, and society is what it is, not because of some individual or collective "essence" but because of the networks that social beings build among one another. Relational Sociology and Research on Schools, Colleges, and Universities demonstrates the value of introducing new relational methods and epistemologies in educational research. The contributors examine the roles and significance of ongoing transactions among connected social actors—students, peers, families, teachers—in a variety of institutional contexts. The book explores various uses and applications of relational sociology in education, while highlighting its promise to provide fresh insight into intractable problems of inequity in US schools.

Collective Action and Football Fandom

Collective Action and Football Fandom
Author: Jamie Cleland
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2018-02-21
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 3319731416

This book draws upon a relational sociological paradigm to explore the processes of collective action in football fandom across Europe and the UK. Through a range of case studies, the authors address pertinent themes in football fandom, including anti-discrimination, ‘home,’ ticketing, name changes, ‘ownership,’ and broader leftist politics. Each of these case studies engages with the theoretical framework of cultural relational sociology, highlighting the different social and cultural changes English and European football has undergone, often over a very short period of time.