Diagramming the Social: Relational Method in Research

This book challenges the hyper-production and proliferation of concepts in modern social research by presenting a distinctive methodological response through the exploration of diagrammatic relational spaces. These spaces are designed to capture social processes in a way that resists reductive and essentialist categories, producing powerful, systematic analyses that break the spell of concept proliferation and its resultant naively realist approach to explaining the world. Through an exploration of key examples and series of original case studies, the authors demonstrate the application of this approach across a variety of empirical settings and academic disciplines, offering a relational and pragmatic approach to social research that resists current trends characterized by supposedly self-evident data and/or disconnected theory.

Format: Hardback
Length: 188 pages
Publication date: 14 September 2020
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book takes a critical stance on the excessive production and proliferation of concepts in modern social research. It offers a unique methodological approach by examining one of the most underappreciated yet widely employed conventions for analyzing social processes: the creation of diagrammatic relational spaces. These spaces are designed to capture social processes in a way that avoids reductive and essentialist categories, enabling the generation of powerful and systematic analyses that challenge the dominance of concept proliferation and its naively realist approach to understanding the world.

Through an exploration of key examples and a series of original case studies, the authors demonstrate the practical application of this approach across various empirical settings and academic disciplines. They showcase a relational and pragmatic approach to social research that resists the prevailing trends characterized by supposedly self-evident data and disconnected theory. As such, this book makes a significant contribution to some of the core questions in contemporary social research and has the potential to provoke and revitalize methodological discussions across different fields of practice.

Weight: 456g
Dimension: 162 x 240 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367192556