(Before and After) Mustafa Emirbayer’s Manifesto: Transactional and Relational Sociology in Comparison

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI
Author/s Luca Martignani
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1
Language Italian Pages 18 P. 97-114 File size 126 KB
DOI 10.3280/SP2014-001006
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The aim of this paper is the critical exposure of Mustafa Emirbayer’s sociological proposal, with particular attention to its position within a specific relational approach, which the author explicitly defines as "transactional". The article first discusses part of the author's work. In dealing with Social Network Analysis, Emirbayer begins to outline his idea of social relationship as a connection between individuals. We then proceed to analyse the thesis underpinning the Manifesto, published in 1997 with the explicit intent of providing the epistemological connotation of social relations as a transaction. In the following sections, we deal with the theoretical and empirical implications of this proposal, with particular reference to the development of the theory of agency and the overcoming of the dichotomies that still characterize the contemporary sociological thought. Finally, we compare Mustafa Emirbayer’s transactional sociology and Pierpaolo Donati's relational sociology, trying to identify their main differences.

Keywords: Relational Sociology, Transaction, Agency, Configuration, Habitus.

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Luca Martignani, (Prima e dopo) il manifesto di mustafa emirbayer: sociologia transazionale e relazionale a confronto in "SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI" 1/2014, pp 97-114, DOI: 10.3280/SP2014-001006