Szociológiai Szemle 26. (2016)

2016 / 4. szám - STUDIES - Néray Bálint: The Relational Approach in Sociology: a Study of Dependence

Review of Sociology 26(4): 5-28. The Relational Approach in Sociology: a Study of Dependence Bálint Néray neray.balint@tk.mta.hu Manuscript received: 7 July 2G16. Modified manuscript received: 21 November 2016. Acceptance of manuscript for publication: 11 December 2016. Abstract: Social relations are often crucial elements of a large variety of social phenomena that social scientists study. However, the formalisation of a relational approach in sociology is relatively incomplete. In this study we draw up an analytical framework within which the aims of empirical research can be formulated and analysed. Our main point of departure is the notion of dependence, which arises through the evolution of relations among individuals, connects them on the meso-level of inquiry, and results in outcomes at the group level. We show that the social mechanisms that are responsible for the evolution of these interpersonal relations can be empirically operationalized within the right methodological framework. Finally, we introduce a longitudinal project and describe a unique data set that is suited to the examination of a wide range of social phenomena in an educational setting. We do this by clarifying key theoretical and methodological concepts in the hope that more empirical research and data collection will be carried out in a relational framework in which individuals and their interpersonal relations are considered to be similarly important. Introduction When it comes to theoretical thinking, and especially to empirical research, the prevailing trend in sociology involves preoccupation with the idea that it is individuals that come first, and the relations among them only afterwards. Lately, however, scholars have been looking for feasible analytical approaches to reverse this assumption of a rather atomised social reality, and to focus more attention on the relations that connect individuals (Brandes et ah, 2013). Even though several classical figures in sociology have, to some extent, established the theoretical basis for a relational sociology, it is only in the last few decades that scholars have started developing a relational sociological theory in a more or less systematic way. The first attempts were made by Donati (1983), shortly after which other publications emerged, such as, for example, those of Bajoit (1992), White (1995), Laflamme (1995), Emirbayer (1997), Tilly (1999), Crossley (2010) and Archer (2012). Dpelteau and Powell’s (2013) work, however, suggests that these formulations substantially differ from each other, and that the term relational sociology is used with a wide range of meanings. Moreover,

Next