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This handbook on relational sociology covers a rapidly growing approach in the social sciences-one which is connected to the interests of a large, diverse pool of researchers across a range of disciplines. Relational sociology has been one of the key foundations of the "relational turn" in human sciences since the 1980s, and it offers a unique opportunity to redefine the basic epistemological and ontological principles of sociology as we know it. The contributors collected here aim to elucidate the complexity and the scope of this growing approach by dealing with three central questions: Where does relational sociology come from and what are its principal concerns? What are the main theoretical and methodological currents within relational sociology? What have we studied in relational sociology and what are the results?

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Introduction: The Promise of the Relational Turn in Sociology
Part I: General Presentation of Relational Sociology
1. Relational Thinking in Sociology: Relevance, Concurrence and Dissonance 2. The Relation as Magical Operator: Overcoming the Divide between Relational and Processual Sociology

Part II: Approaches and Theories Associated with Relational Sociology: Pragmatism, Interactions, and Assemblages
3. Sociology of Infinitesimal Difference: Gabriel´s Tarde Heritage 4. Pluralism and Relationism in Social Theory: Lessons from the Tarde/Durkheim Debate 5. G.H. Mead and Relational Sociology: The Case of Concepts 6. Pragmatist Methodological Relationalism in Sociological Understanding of Evolving Human Culture 7. Gilles Deleuze and Relational Sociology 8. Triangular Relations: Michel Serres on Parasites, Angels, Quasi-objects, and the Virtual 9. Bruno Latour and Relational Sociology

Part III: Social Forms, System Theories, and Network Analysis
10. Georg Simmel and Relational Sociology 11. Georg Simmel´s Concepts of Forms of Sociation as an Analytical Tool for Relational Sociology 12. Switchings among Netdoms: The Relational Sociology of Harrison White 13. Relationalism and Social Networks 14. Is Niklas Luhmann a Relational Sociologist?

Part IV: Power Relations, Inequalities, and Conflicts
15. Charles Tilly and Relational Sociology 16. Michael Mann and Relational Sociology 17. Pierre Bourdieu and Relational Sociology 18. Relational Sociology and Postcolonial Theory: Sketches of a ´Postcolonial Relationism´ 19. ´To Understand the Shore, it is not Enough... to Pick up an Empty Shell...´: Feminist Epistemologies, Ecological Thinking, and Relational Ontologies


Part V: Current Approaches in Relational Sociology
20. Beyond the Manifesto: Mustafa Emirbayer and Relational Sociology 21. Critical Realism as Relational Sociology 22. An Original Relational Sociology Grounded in Critical Realism 23. Deconstructing and Reconstructing Social Networks 24. Networks, Interactions and Relations 25. From the Concept of ´Trans-action´ to a Process-Relational Sociology

Part VI: Specific Issues and Concepts in Relational Sociology
26. Relational Agency 27. Power and Relational Sociology 28. Relational Radicalization 29. The Relational Meaning-Making of Riots: Narrative Logic and Network Performance of the London ´Riots´ 30. Music Sociology and Relational Perspective 31. Relational Sociology: Contributions to Understanding Residential Decision-Making in Later Life 32. Relations, Organizing, Leadership and Education 33. Marcel Mauss, the Gift and Relational Sociology

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Fran‡ois Dépelteau is Professor of Sociology at Laurentian University, Canada. He is a specialist in sociological theory and relational sociology, and has published many books and articles in journals such as Sociological Theory and The International Review of Sociology.

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