PL16CH23-Hall ARI 21 February 2013 18:22 R E V I E W S I N A D V A N C E Why Social Relations Matter for Politics and Successful Societies Peter A. Hall and Mich` ele Lamont Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; email: phall@fas.harvard.edu, mlamont@wjh.harvard.edu Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2013. 16:23.1–23.23 The Annual Review of Political Science is online at http://polisci.annualreviews.org This article’s doi: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-031710-101143 Copyright c  2013 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved Keywords culture, institutions, resilience, inequality, neoliberalism, health Abstract Political science can gain from incorporating richer conceptions of social relations into its analyses. In place of atomistic entities endowed with assets but few social relationships, social actors should be seen as relational enti- ties embedded in social and cultural structures that connect them to others in multifaceted ways. Understanding those relationships requires a deeper understanding of how institutional and cultural frameworks interact to con- dition the terrain for social action. More intensive dialogue with sociology can inform such an understanding. We review the analytical tools cultural sociology now offers those interested in such a perspective and illustrate it in operation in studies of inequalities in population health and the effects of neoliberalism. We close by outlining several issues to which this perspective can usefully be applied, including the problems of understanding social re- silience, how societies build collective capacities, and why some institutions remain robust while others deteriorate. 23.1 Review in Advance first posted online on February 28, 2013. (Changes may still occur before final publication online and in print.) Changes may still occur before final publication online and in print Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2013.16. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org by Harvard University on 03/28/13. For personal use only.