ABSTRACT
Although relational sociology moves in theory, it has not generally moved in practice. In this chapter, I suggest combining evolutionary and relational approaches as a key to making time and change central to relational sociology. Using this combination, I consider processes generally not accounted for in relational sociology, such as the timing of when we can engage in reflexive and purposeful action; the emergence, constraint, and dissolution of culture; and how social processes emerge, stabilize, and eventually collapse. To illustrate how we can think in terms of evolving relational dynamics, I provide two heuristics: 1) a cycle of social organization that works across various scales and tempos of social organization and 2) evolving spirals that emerge as cycles of organization link one to another over history. I suggest that these heuristics of cycles and spirals provide an alternative to imagining social organization on distinct levels by illustrating social organization as emerging, persisting, and collapsing at different scales and tempos. The heuristic of spiraling evolution also allows us to think in useful ways about periodicity—identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a social process. Approaching periodicity in this way allows for a systematic approach to the casing and parsing of social dynamics for investigation. Finally, cycles and spiraling evolution also illustrate how motivations shift across the cycle of organization, encouraging and undermining different types of relations at different points in time.
