The Relational Approach and the Family

The article is an illustration, from a sociological viewpoint, of the epistemological and methodological scope of the relational approach to the study of the family. From this perspective (Section 1), the family can be identified as a social relationship of full reciprocity between sexes(1) and generations, to be neither replaced nor confused with anything else (family genome), thus highlighting the advantages of the relational approach compared to other contemporary approaches, defined as relationist/relationistic. Section 2 focuses on the Added Value of the Relational Method from logical, methodological and empirical levels. The main traits of the family research are to consider the family as a unicum and its relational and historical nature. The AGIL scheme helps to analyse the family as a sui generis relationship by identifying its constitutive resources (A), aims (G), norms (I) and latent cultural model (L).