Manifesto for a relational sociology

Abstract

In this article, Emirbayer launches a scathing assault on the new "substantialist" and overly quantitative approach to modern sociology. Specifically, Emirbayer discredits variable centered and rational choice models for attempting to deify social relations rather than to fully appreciate the rich context of time and space in the agency of actors within a social network. Arguing that sociology has moved away from its basic premise that human relations are dynamic in that actors significantly reform one another through their relations, Emirbayer advocates for language of "transaction" instead of "interaction" to restore culture and context to the science of sociology.