Showing papers on "Relational sociology published in 2012"

Towards Relational Sociology

Abstract: Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Individualism, Holism and Beyond 3. Mapping the Territory 4. From Strategy to Empathy 5. Mind, Meaning and Intersubjectivity 6. I, Me and the Other 7. Exchange, Sociability and Power 8. Structure, Agency and Social Worlds 9. Networks, Conventions and Resources: The Structure(s) of Social Worlds Bibliography Index

Situated learning theory and agentic orientation: A relational sociology approach:

Abstract: The orthodox literature on situated learning has favoured a conception of agency which is linked to habitual action and as a consequence it emphasizes learning as routinized enactment based on social cohesion. To highlight the contested nature of situated learning we draw on the case study of situated learning during organizational change and we employ a relational sociology perspective. The latter views agency as a process encompassing iterative, projective and practical evaluative dimensions which unfold in relation to the temporal and structural contexts within which situated learning is embedded. The evidence illustrates situated learning as an emergent process shaped by the diverse modes in which actors—operating in a context imbued with ambiguity—connected with a seemingly shared set of principles informing their practice.

Legitimacy in State-Building: A Review of the IR Literature

Abstract: Andersen, Morten Skumsrud. (2012) Legitimacy in State-Building: A Review of the IR Literature. International Political Sociology, doi: 10.1111/j.1749-5687.2012.00159.x © 2012 International Studies Association In this article, which focuses on different concepts of state-building and legitimacy as used in the mainstream International Relations (IR) literature, I suggest that recent debates may be categorized in a two-by-two matrix. The axes concern the choice between a normative or a sociological perspective on the one hand, and a focus on state institutions or on society on the other. The article identifies an empiricist-sociological approach. Still, the almost exclusive reliance on an ontology of entities and their attributes hampers foci on relations as constituting both “insides” and “outsides” in state-building, and on legitimacy as important in its own right as ongoing public contestations. In a concluding section, I explore the purchase of a relational sociology for future studies of legitimacy in state-building.

Self-relations in Social Relations

Abstract: This article contributes to an ongoing theoretical effort to extend the insights of relational and network sociology into adjacent domains. We integrate Simmel’s late theory of the relational self into the formal analysis of social relations, generating a framework for theorizing forms of association among self-relating individuals. On this model, every “node” in an interaction has relations not only to others but also to itself, specifically between its ideality and its actuality. We go on to integrate this self-relation into a formal model of social relations. This model provides a way to describe configurations of social interactions defined by the forms according to which social relations realize participants’ ideal selves. We examine four formal dimensions along which these self-relational relationships can vary: distance, symmetry, scope, and actualization.

Embedding the Stranger: Ethnic Categories and Cultural Differences in Social Networks

Abstract: Ethnic categories and cultural differences are rooted in the structure of social networks. The segregation of migrant groups in networks of personal relationships determines the extent to which cultural differences can be bridged and the salience of ethnic categories in multicultural societies. Drawing on diverse theoretical strands from symbolic interactionism, social anthropology and Norbert Elias's figurational sociology to the relational sociology of Harrison White, Charles Tilly and others, the article aims at a network theoretical account of inter-ethnic relations, resonating with empirical research on personal networks of migrants. Alfred Schutz's Stranger, Robert Park's Marginal Man and Norbert Elias and John Scotson's Established and Outsiders as the emblematic figures of the sociology of migration are reconstructed in this framework as a common theoretical ground.

La sociología relacional: una propuesta de fundamentación sociológica para la institución educativa

Abstract: In the face of modern functionalism, Pierpaolo Donati's proposal on relational sociology emerges as a new form of social intervention that is crucial to the study of educational institutions. This demands an understanding of the merits and logic behind the relational perspective. The need for the emergence of a "societal" citizenship is proposed, one with room for the social phenomenon Donati calls social private, founded on the principle of solidarity.

Oman paikan taju : keski-ikäiset perheenäidit paikallisilla kentillä

Abstract: Kivela, Paivi A sense of one’s own place. Middle-aged mothers in local fields Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, 2012, 168 p. Jyvaskyla Studies in Education, Psychology and Social Sciences ISSN 0075-4625; 454) ISBN 978-951-39-4946-4 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-4947-1 (PDF) This study explores how women around 50 years of age living in a small locality in Central Finland have experienced and accommodated themselves to changing conditions in society. The theoretical approach utilized is the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, and his key concepts of habitus, field and capital. The main data consist of in-depth life course interviews with 15 women. The study highlights how women have oriented themselves between various field-like spheres (education, paid work, family life) with different prevailing dynamics and rules. Firstly, this study analyses the generation of economic, cultural and social capital, and shows how the forms of capital are used and transformed, and especially how they are valued (or devalued) in the local labour market. Secondly, and in particular, the study carefully investigates how women anticipate their future and make decisions. The primary aim is the socioanalysis and profound understanding of why women make the choices they make. The results emphasize how the movement of an actor across new, unfamiliar fields and rapidly changing social conjunctures over the course of life necessitates a range of creative adaptations and responses generated by her habitus. The case stories represented shed light on women as capable, active, flexible and competent actors in the local labour market. Ironically, in many cases, the advantage they have been able to gain from their well-developed social skills, and deferential, motherly and submissive dispositions is that they are ideal employees for low-paid low-status service sector jobs. The results of the study underline the significance of emotions in decision making and choices actualised over the life courses of interviewed women. Many theorists have criticized Bourdieu’s lack of attention to the affective sphere, which would entail neglecting an important aspect of sense making. However, drawing especially from Bourdieu’s later work (e.g. The Weight of the World), this study emphasises that it is unambiguously possible to include the essential aspect of emotions more explicitly and saliently to the adequate exploration of future anticipation and individual decision making.