Social relations are constituted through mediating processes

Evidence

We draw here on William Sewell’s definition of the social as “the various ‘mediations’ that place people into ‘social’ relations with one another … [as] interdependent members of each other’s worlds” (Logics of History, 329). — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 667

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sewell’s definition gives the social a relational, processual shape the data-colonialism argument then extends into infrastructure.
• XREF: connects to: The problem of mediation links psychological, social, and economic levels — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 20; Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 778; Social relations can be analyzed purely as formal configurations — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 208 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Social relations can be analyzed purely as formal configurations #contradicts (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 208
• Narrative knowledge transmits the pragmatic rules that constitute the social bond #exemplifies (0.80) — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 200
• Modern social organization produces distance through mediated action and intermediaries #expands (0.78) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 551
• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life #contradicts (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 778