Toward a Processual-Relational Adaptation of “Substantialist” Sociology : Starting with Durkheim
Keywords:
Durkheim, substantialism, relational sociology, processual, determinism, co-determinismAbstract
The main thesis of the article is that “substantialist” concepts and explanations in sociology can and should be rendered processual and relational. By doing so, we can avoid problems related to reification, dualisms, and hard or soft forms of social determinism; and we can therefore focus on the empirical and pragmatic relevance of the revised explanations. In the article, Émile Durkheim’s idea of “social things” is used as an orthodox substantialist representation of social phenomena. I show how Durkheim’s substantialist explanations can and should be revised into processual-relational ones by adapting three famous explanations on the potential roles of corporations in modernity, the transformation from mechanical to organic solidarity, and the social causes of egotistical suicide. In fact, if we look at the Durkheim’s explanations in detail, we realize that he was talking about fluid social processes made by relations between interactants, which imply that the idea of “social things” and its related problems are superfluous.
