Relational Sociology: A New Paradigm for the Social Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-356
Author(s):  
Mary Shivanandan ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
VLADIMER PAPAVA

The article analyzes the crisis in the economics, its primary causes and its manifestations. It shows how traditional economics “turns a blind eye” to many significant aspects of economic reality. Within this crisis, the economy lags behind the economic reality and so various economic theories are used to attempt to interpret the economic phenomena. Some of the clearest examples of economies falling outside of reality are seen in the transition economies of the post-Communist period on their way to a market economy as well as the events of the global financial and economic crisis in 2007-2009. The most recent example of the crisis in economics is cryptocurrency which has already spread over almost the entire world over the past several years but which has not yet become a topic of systematic study in economics. In order to overcome the crisis situation in economics, it will be of utmost importance as to how well the human factor is reflected in economic studies and to what extent it will be approximated to the behavior that is characteristic of human beings in reality. For this purpose, economists must apply the knowledge about human nature that has been amassed in the field of social sciences such as philosophy, psychology, law and political science. For the development of economics and for its relevant transformation, the conditions referred to in the traditionally used phrase “other things equal” (“ceritasparibas”) need to be minimized in economic studies. This will be possible if an economic study relies not only (and in certain cases not to a greater extent) on mathematics but also on philosophy, psychology, law, history, geography and political science. In this regard, economists need to conduct studies by expanding their scope; that is, along the lines set out by the above-mentioned fields of the social sciences. Given the variety of economic theories, seeking possible ways to synthesize them becomes of great importance and this will assist economists in perceiving a given economic reality in a comprehensive way.


2017 ◽  
pp. 167-188
Author(s):  
Carool Kersten

Within the context of Indonesia’s encounters with liberalism in late colonial and postcolonial times, this chapter examines Muslim discourses that are critical of both Western liberal ideology and its Islamist detractors. After problematizing the existing categories of Islamic neo-modernism, Liberal Islam, and Islamic liberalism, the chapter focuses on alternative discourses formulated by Muslim intellectuals from both traditionalist and modernist-reformist Islamic backgrounds during the Reformasi era when Indonesia transitioned from a military autocracy to a democratic system of governance. Islamic Post-Traditionalists draws on poststructuralism and postcolonial theory to offer an emancipatory trajectory for Indonesian Muslims in the twenty-first century, while modernist-reformist intellectuals have drawn on the social sciences to develop a new paradigm referred to as Transformative Islam. Instead of presenting sweeping ideas, this younger generation is more concerned with translating new regimes of knowledge into applied thinking about concrete issues, such as democratization, development, justice and battling corruption.


Author(s):  
Stanislaw Grochmal

Abstract The phenomenon of the social, economic, political, cultural, and spiritual activities of the Focolare Movement, implemented in the economy of communion businesses on the global scale for more than 20 years, inspired Biela to formulate the paradigm of unity concept to show its importance in the social sciences field (Biela 1996, 2005). The author of this research paper has expanded Biela’s concept on the basis of the new paradigm theoretical analysis in the social sciences field, particularly in management sciences, and has conducted an empirical investigation in 110 businesses of the economy of communion in 22 countries (Grochmal 2013). The need of essential mental and cultural changes by the entrepreneurs (managers), as well by the employees, in the management processes is presented in this paper according to the paradigm of unity. The necessity of these changes results from the fundamental assumptions of this same paradigm: from the new holistic look on the management process and interpersonal relationships between shareholders and stakeholders; from the personalistic treatment of each participant in the economic process; and from the role human, relational, and spiritual capitals play in the modern management


Stan Rzeczy ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 15-66
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Donati

The paper presents a general outline of the author’s relational sociology, showing it to be different from other relational sociologies, which are, in fact, figurational, transactional, or purely communicative. Relational sociology is conceived as a way of observing and thinking that starts from the assumption that the problems of society are generated by social relations and aims to understand, and if possible, solve them, not purely on the basis of individual or voluntary actions, nor conversely, purely through collective or structural ones, but via new configurations of social relations. The social is relational in essence. Social facts can be understood and explained by assuming that “in the beginning (of any social fact there) is the relation.”Ultimately, this approach points to the possibility of highlighting thoserelational processes that can better realize the humanity of social agents and give them, as relational subjects, the opportunity to achieve a good life in a society that is becoming increasingly complex as the processes of globalization proceed.


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