Introduction

This edited volume contains contributions from scholars from all over the world that outline their version of relational sociology, situate it within the relational landscape and indicate how it might contribute to the development of a relational paradigm. This book’s aim is to open a variety of perspectives on relational sociology and to bring them into a fruitful, frictional dialogue.

These chapters draw on the canonical authors of the relational turn, present relational perspectives in the neighbouring disciplines, integrate divergent approaches, solve important conceptual problems, articulate the relations between the core concepts of relational sociology, and apply the relational perspective to subfields of sociology.

The First Part: Sociology as Friendly Society

The first part of the book—Sociology as Friendly Society—is dedicated to Françoise Dépelteau in memoriam and contains excerpts from an unfinished manuscript.

The Second Section

The second section discusses the idea of a paradigm of relational sociology, balancing affirmative with more critical stances.

The Third Part

The third part contains texts about social attachments, interactions and relations by authors who adopt a Durkheimian perspective.

The Fourth Part

The fourth part extends these concerns with primary sociability from the micro- to the macro-level of politics.