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This article contributes to an ongoing theoretical effort to extend the insights of relational and network sociology into adjacent domains. We integrate Simmel's late theory of the relational self into the formal analysis of social relations, generating a framework for theorizing forms of association among self-relating individuals. On this model, every "node" in an interaction has relations not only to others but also to itself, specifically between its ideality and its actuality. We go on to integrate this self-relation into a formal model of social relations. This model provides a way to describe configurations of social interactions defined by the forms according to which social relations realize participants' ideal selves. We examine four formal dimensions along which these self-relational relationships can vary: distance, symmetry, scope, and actualization.

Trust is key to understanding the dynamics of social relations, to the extent that it is often viewed as the glue that holds society together. We review the mounting sociological literature to help answer what trust is and where it comes from. To this end, we identify two research streams—on particularized trust and generalized trust, respectively—and propose an integrative framework that bridges these lines of research while also enhancing conceptual precision. This framework provides the springboard for identifying several important avenues for future research, including new investigations into the radius of trust, the intermediate form of categorical trust, and the interrelationships between different forms of trust. This article also calls for more scholarship focusing on the consequences (versus antecedents) of trust, addressing more fully the trustee side of the relation, and employing new empirical methods. Such novel approaches will ensure that trust research will continue to provide important insights into the functioning of modern society in the years to come.

The Wu Boliang affair reported in the Chinese media several years ago is symptomatic of the complex socio-political situation in the Chinese countryside. Wu Boliang was one of the first entrepreneurs from his village to develop the cultivation of mandarin oranges, and in 1993 and 1997 he acquired several orchards under the "responsibility system" in order to make them productive with the help of the township. But the latter did not provide him with the necessary funds in time, obliging him to borrow in his own name to cover the wages of the agricultural workers and the purchase of pesticides, fertiliser, etc. As the years went by and debts piled up, the township still did not reimburse him, forcing Wu Boliang to undertake legal proceedings. Although he immediately won his case against the township, the sums owed to him were still not paid, and he had no other option but to become a petitioner. In 2014, 20 years after the signing of the contract, the matter was finally settled. My in-depth analysis follows this particular case over a period of about ten years, and gives a detailed insight into the intricate interplay between the various mechanisms within the hierarchical pyramid of the Chinese society. This enables me to study the behaviour of the agents – both individuals and institutions. (China Perspect/GIGA)

I Conflict, Power, and Justice -- 1 Cooperation, Conflict, and Justice -- 2 Justice and Power: An Exchange Analysis -- 3 Justice Considerations in Interpersonal Conflict -- 4 Power and Justice in Intergroup Relations -- II Theoretical Perspectives on Justice -- 5 Justice Ideology and Social Legitimation: A Revised Agenda for Psychological Inquiry -- 6 The Experience of Injustice: Toward a Better Understanding of its Phenomenology -- 7 Thinking about Justice and Dealing with One's Own Privileges: A Study of Existential Guilt -- 8 Rethinking Equity Theory: A Referent Cognitions Model -- III Norms and Justice -- 9 Social Context and Perceived Justice -- 10 Levels of Interest in the Study of Interpersonal Justice -- 11 The Need Principle of Distributive Justice -- 12 Group Categorization and Distributive Justice Decisions -- 13 Children's Use of Justice Principles in Allocation Situations: Focus on the Need Principle -- IV Applications of Justice Research -- 14 Two Rotten Apples Spoil the Justice Barrel -- 15 Justice as Fair and Equal Treatment before the Law: The Role of Individual Versus Group Decision Making -- 16 The Psychology of Leadership Evaluation -- 17 When Expectations and Justice Do Not Coincide: Blue-Collar Visions of a Just World -- 18 The Distributive Justice of Organizational Performance Evaluations -- Author Index.

"Scale," a term referring to size and/or complexity, is a societal dimension frequently employed and generally regarded as important but rarely systematically investigated. This paper provides a critical overview of the meanings which have been attached to the concept and the implications they carry. Special attention is paid here to the diverse literature dealing with the contrast between societies characterized by such polar terms as Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, folk and urban, small and large, simple and complex. The paper then turns to a consideration of the effects of social scale as an independent variable affecting social organization and social relations. This is undertaken by reference to the author's own ethnographic research in societies and situations which apparently offer contrasts in scale: (1) the Aleutian Islands, where a case study was made of processes and results of a major change in scale, from that of a small-scale hunting and fishing society to one participating in the national political and economic nexus of the United States;(2) village India, contrasting the very small scale of a Himalayan village and its region with the larger-scale situation of villages of the densely populated Indo-Gangetic plain; (3) urban India, contrasting social organization and social relations in the city with those in traditional villages, as described in 2. In each instance, general principles have been derived from the ethnographic data concerning the social consequences of variations in scale and the social processes which they engender, e.g., the widespread quest for community, communal sentiments, and communal experience which large-scale organization brings about. In conclusion, some two dozen general inferences about the ways in which scale influences social relations are proposed and enumerated. It is hoped that as a result, other anthropologists may be moved to investigate the implications of scale in the various societies in which they work. One significant aim would be to ascertain what features of social organization and social relations are inherently aspects of scale, what features are affected by scale (and in what ways), and what features are independent of scale.

The navvies' like interest in, and value of, individual independence affects their social behaviour at work and their social status and relations with society. It would appear that this like interest inhibits not only the growth of common interest groups but even the development of social groups of any kind. Comparisons with other industries provide additional grounds for concluding that the nature of employment determines the pattern of interests and thereby many features of social relations at work and in the community.

"Language connects people to each other in social relationships and allows them to participate in a variety of activities in everyday life. This original study explores the role of language in various domains of our social life, including identity, gender, class, kinship, deference, status, hierarchy, and others. Drawing on materials from over thirty languages and societies, this book shows that language is not simply a tool of social conduct but the effective means by which human beings formulate models of conduct."--Jacket