Relational sociology

Relational sociology is a collection of sociological theories that emphasize relationalism over substantivalism in explanations and interpretations of social phenomena and is most directly connected to the work of Harrison White and Charles Tilly in the United States and Pierpaolo Donati and Nick Crossley in Europe.

Relational sociology draws on a perspective or social ontology that Tilly and Donati refer to as relational realism or "the doctrine that transactions, interactions, social ties and conversations constitute the central stuff of social life." (Although, Donati argues that other relational sociologies based on constructivist ontology are not truly relational realism.) This redefines the object of sociology, as Donati argues: "Society is not a space “containing” relations, or an arena where relations are played. It is rather the very tissue of relations (society “is relation” and does not “have relations”). Although several relational thinkers emerge throughout human thought, these presumably disparate theoretical ideas were consolidated in the United States under one banner during what some, following Ann Mische, refer to as The New York School of relational sociology in the 1990s. The Canadian Sociological Association has referred to it as the "relational turn" in social sciences spreading around the world.

While substantivalism (similar to substantialism in philosophy) tends to view individuals (or other social objects) as self-subsistent or self-acting entities, relationalism underscores that practices constitute individuals, and that all action is always trans-action: always with implication transcending the momentary intent. This distinction is frequently cited by Pierre Bourdieu who borrowed it from Ernest Cassirer, specifically, Cassirer's 1923 publication Substance and Function. Overall, "relational theorists reject the notion that one can posit discrete, pre-given units such as the individual or society as ultimate starting points of sociological analysis"

In Mustafa Emirbayer's 1997 "Manifesto for a Relational Sociology" he traces the tradition of privileging relations over substances to the pre-Socratic, Greek philosopher Heraclitus. He is attributed the cryptic saying "Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers," from which the simpler "everything flows" (Panta rhei) emerges. Among the classical sociologists, Emirbayer and sociologist Marion Fourcade agree that relational ideas emerge in the work of several founders of sociology, including Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Mead, and Simmel. Among early and mid-20th century sociologists, the most prominently relational theorists are John Dewey, Arthur F. Bentley, Pierre Bourdieu, Norbert Elias, and Niklas Luhmann. Pierpaolo Donati contends that Simmel, specifically the concept Wechselwirkung, is "the first one to give sociology the "relational turning point." Donati's own "Manifesto" for his own variety of relational sociology was first published in 1983 in Italian, entitled Introduzione alla sociologia relazionale. In 1992, the French sociologist Guy Bajoit authored "Pour une sociologie relationnelle," which is contemporary with the relational movement in American sociology, but is only engaged, briefly, by Donati's relational sociology.

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