Moreover, it seems less than completely effective to urge people to make connections to each other because being self-centered really leads to a healthier community. Yes, keeping up our networks does help each one of us. But this does not seem to be the kind of inspirational call to a wider world that will transform the current problems in the nation.

Relational, Not Instrumental Connections

Lawler, Thye, & Yoon argue that it is not simply sufficient to create the shell of the kinds of institutions that can encourage and support community. Rather, we must consider the ways in which we can shift the connections between people and institutions and between institutions and institutions from being essentially instrumental to being more deeply relational.

This volume argues that there are fundamental social conditions under which transactional, purely instrumental ties to a group tend to become relational and expressive. We reframe the transactional-relational...
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