The Relation as Magical Operator: Overcoming the Divide Between Relational and Processual Sociology

Abstract

Relational sociology is not a paradigm, but a thematic cluster of theories that take the relation as their central category. Within the cluster there are, basically, two approaches, a relational-structural one and a processual-interactionist one, that fly under the same flag, but are in tension with each other. The task of general relational theory is to unify these two approaches, though nothing indicates that such a unified theory is at hand. In this chapter, I do some initial mapping of the field. I propose Karl Marx, Georg Simmel, Gabriel Tarde and Marcel Mauss as prime relational theorists and suggest that, together, they form a system. Similarly, I distinguish four relational constellations and argue that a relational social theory needs to systematically interweave structuralism, processualism, interactionism and symbolism in a general theory that articulates structure, culture and practices.