Did You Say “Relation”?
Contemporary sociology is the home of intense discussions on the term “relation”. These discussions are not recent, and even, more than a century ago, we find traces of it (although quietly, the quarrel not being identified as such) in authors such as Georg Simmel or those of the Chicago Schools, circa 1890. The dispute reappeared since methodological individualism receded somewhat from center stage after the death of Raymond Boudon, in 2013. This dispute opposes those for whom relational sociology is essentially an interactionism which most often boils down to an individualist and actionist posture and those for whom this approach cannot really be conceived as relational and consider that it is necessary to “start from the relation” and not having to be driven to the individual. This article aims to provide some clarification on this dispute and propose a way to resolve it.