Table Of ContentApplying Relational Sociology
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Applying Relational Sociology
Relations, Networks, and Society
Edited by François Dépelteau and
Christopher Powell
APPLYINGRELATIONALSOCIOLOGY
Copyright©FrançoisDépelteauandChristopherPowell,2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-37991-7
Allrightsreserved.
Firstpublishedin2013by
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ISBN 978-1-349-47904-7 ISBN 978-1-137-40700-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137407009
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Applyingrelationalsociology:relations,networks,and
society/editedbyFrançoisDépelteauandChristopherPowell.
pages cm
1. Intergrouprelations. 2. Interpersonalrelations. 3. Social
interaction. 4. Sociology. I. Dépelteau,François,1963–
II. Powell,ChristopherJohn,1971–
HM716.A662013
301—dc23 2013026021
AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices
Firstedition:December2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables vii
NotesonContributors ix
Introduction xv
FrançoisDépelteauandChristopherPowell
1 RelationalSociologyandtheGlobalizedSociety 1
PierpaoloDonati
2 SpatialRelationalityandtheFallaciesofMethodological
Nationalism:TheorizingUrbanSpaceandBinational
SocialityinJewish-Arab“MixedTowns” 25
DanielMonterescu
3 SurvivalUnitsasthePointofDepartureforaRelational
Sociology 51
LarsBoKaspersenandNormanGabriel
4 HumanTransactionMechanismsinEvolutionary
Niches—aMethodologicalRelationalistStandpoint 83
OsmoKivinenandTeroPiiroinen
5 Bourdieu’sRelationalMethodinTheoryandin
Practice:FromFieldsandCapitalstoNetworksand
Institutions(andBackAgain) 101
JohnW.Mohr
6 TurningPointsandtheSpaceofPossibles:ARelational
PerspectiveontheDifferentFormsofUncertainty 137
HarrisonC.White,FrédéricC.Godart,andMatthias
Thiemann
7 RelationalPowerfromSwitchingacrossNetdoms
throughReflexiveandIndexicalLanguage 155
JorgeFontdevilaandHarrisonC.White
vi Contents
8 SocialRelationshipsbetweenCommunication,Network
Structure,andCulture 181
JanA.Fuhse
9 ConnectingNetworkMethodstoSocialScience
Research:HowtoParsimoniouslyUseDyadicMeasures
asIndependentVariables 207
HeatherE.Price
Index 227
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Thebasicassumptionsofmodern,postmodern,and
trans-modernsociologies 13
1.2 Thebasicschemeoftheconstitutionofanactor’s
(A)socialidentityintrans-modernsociety(e=ego;
a=alter) 13
1.3 Theformsofsocialdifferentiation 18
2.1 Publicsignsofimpossibleloveandhate:Failed
attemptstodrawaswastika 27
2.2 Publicsignsofimpossibleloveandhate:Adeclaration
oflove—“FuadLoveOSNAT” 28
2.3 Relationalspatiality:Thesocio-spatialconfigurationof
Jewish-Arabmixedtowns 32
2.4 PopulationmovementsinJaffa(1948todate) 35
2.5 Jewishattemptstoreclaimthemixedcity 40
5.1 Bourdieu’smodeloffieldspace(AfterP.Bourdieu,
Distinction,figures5and6,pp.128and129.) 108
5.2 Lewin’sconceptionofhodologicalspace(After
K.Lewin,FieldTheory,figures43and44,pp.256and
257.)(a)Positivecentralforce-field;(b)Negative
centralforce-field 114
5.3 MohrandGuerra-Pearson’smodeloffieldspace.
(AfterMohrandGuerra-Pearson,“Thedualityof
Nicheandform,”figures1and2,pp.332and338.) 123
6.1 Overviewofthethreedisciplines:processes,valuation
orders,andformsofuncertainty 143
6.2 Theinterplaybetweenambage,ambiguity,and
contingency 149
8.1 TalcottParsons’sgeneralsystemofaction 189
9.1 Configurationsofcliquesbynumberofmembersand
pathlength 221
viii List of Figures and Tables
Tables
AppendixA. Summarystatistics 211
9.1 Correlationmatrixofinterpersonal
relationshipmeasures 214
9.2 TwelveindependentOLSregressionmodels
ofprofessionalandsocialinteractionsatwork 215
9.3 OLSregressionmodelsofprofessionaland
socialinteractionsatworkusingall12
interpersonalnetworkcharacteristicsineach
model 216
9.4 Eigenvaluesfromtheprincipalcomponents
factoranalysis 217
9.5 Factorloadingsofthedyadicnetwork
characteristics 218
9.6 OLSregressionmodelsofprofessionaland
socialinteractionsatworkusingallthree
latentconstructsofinterpersonalnetwork
characteristicsineachmodel 222
Notes on Contributors
Pierpaolo Donati is Professor of Sociology at the University of
Bologna (Italy). As past-president of the Italian Sociological Associa-
tion,hehasservedasCounselloroftheBoardoftheIIS.Astheeditor
ofthejournalSociologiaePoliticheSociali sinceitsfoundation,hehas
directedmanynationalandinternationalsurveys.Heisknownasthe
“foundingfather”oftheItalian“relationalsociology,”whichwasfirst
advancedin1983anddevelopedin30yearsintothebookRelational
Sociology:ANewParadigmfortheSocialSciences (Routledge2011).
Jorge Fontdevila is Associate Professor of Sociology at California
State University, Fullerton. He received a PhD in Sociology with
distinctionfromColumbiaUniversityandanMAinCulturalAnthro-
pology from the University of Chicago. He has published in a range
of journals, including SociologicalTheory, Poetics, REDES, Archivesof
Sexual Behavior, Social Theory & Health, Journal of Urban Health,
American Journal of Public Health, Sex Roles, AIDS and Behavior,
JournalofSubstanceAbuse, EvaluationandProgramPlanning, Jour-
nal of Phonetics, Speech Communication, and Language and Speech.
Dr. Fontdevila has extensive experience conducting sociobehavioral
and prevention research among New York and Southern California
populations disproportionately affected by HIV. He also publishes
social theoretical research on the complex relationship between lin-
guistic meaning and social networks. In particular, he explores the
critical significance of language’s reflexive and indexical dimensions
to sustain and manage ambiguity in a contemporary world of rapidly
decouplingandpolymerizingnetworks.
Jan Fuhse (1975) is currently a Heisenberg Fellow at the Institute
of Social and Political Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin. He
has studied political science at Free University Berlin and Sociology
at Warwick University. His doctorate in sociology at the Universität
StuttgartfocusedontheroleofsocialnetworksintheItalianmigrant
community in Germany. During a post-doc at Columbia University,
