Pierpaolo Donati - Relational Sociology: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences

Relational Sociology

Simultaneous invention has become commonplace in the natural sciences, but is still virtually unknown within the sphere of social science. The convergence of two highly compatible versions of critical realism from two independent sources is a striking exception. Pierpaolo Donatis Relational Sociology develops upwards from sociology into a realist meta-theory, unlike Roy Baskhars philosophy of science, which works downwards and underlabours for the social sciences.

This book systematically introduces Donatis relational sociology to an English readership for the first time since he began to advance his approach thirty years ago. In this eagerly awaited book, Pierpaolo Donati shifts the focus of sociological theory onto the relational order at all levels. He argues that society is constituted by the relations people create with one another, their emergent properties and powers, and internal and external causal effects.

Relational Sociology provides a distinctive variant upon the realist theoretical conspectus, especially because of its ability to account for social integration. It will stimulate debate amongst realists themselves and, of course, with the adversaries of realism. It is a valuable new resource for students of social theory and practising social theorists.

Pierpaolo Donati is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bologna (Italy). Past-President of the Italian Sociological Association, he is known as the founder of relational sociology or the relational theory of society, an independently developed form of critical realism. He has published more than 600 works (see: Building a Relational Theory of Society: A Sociological Journey, in M. Deflem ed., Sociologists in a Global Age. Biographical Perspectives, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2007).

Relational Sociology

A new paradigm for the social sciences

Pierpaolo Donati

LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2011
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.

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2011 Pierpaolo Donati

The right of Pierpaolo Donati to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Relational sociology : a new paradigm for the social sciences / edited by
Pierpaolo Donati.
p. cm.
1. Sociology. I. Donati, Pierpaolo, 1946
HM585.R45 2010
301.01dc22
2010012700

ISBN 0-203-86028-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN: 9780415567480 (hbk)

ISBN: 9780203860281 (ebk)

To my parents and brother
who taught me the meaning of relations