scholarly journals POLIS AS A MODEL FOR ASSEMBLING THE «SOCIAL» IN EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY

2020 ◽  
pp. 203-214
Author(s):  
Сергей Валентинович Рассадин
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
European Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Social Views

Обострившиеся в условиях глобализации социальные конфликты демонстрируют перманентную проблемность «социального» как феномена. Концептуальное оформление данного феномена во многом определяет не только понимание, но и варианты последующих социальных трансформаций. При этом устойчивость многих социальных интеллектуальных построений на протяжении столетий не вызывает сомнений. Актуальность наиболее ранних социальных представлений, которые во многом предзадали европейскую традицию социальной мысли тем самым очевидна. Анализируется генезис социальных идей в ранней греческой философии. Автор эксплицирует «протосоциальные» воззрения в творчестве ряда досократических мыслителей. В исследовании используются методы дискурсивного анализа и акторно-сетевой теории. В результате проведённого теоретического изыскания выявлены наиболее значимые механизмы генезиса «социального» в начале европейской интеллектуальной традиции. The aggravated social conflicts in the context of globalization demonstrate the permanent problematic nature of the «social» as a phenomenon. The conceptual design of this phenomenon largely determines not only understanding, but also options for subsequent social transformations. At the same time, the stability of many social intellectual constructions over the centuries is beyond doubt. The relevance of the earliest social concepts, which in many ways foreshadowed the European tradition of social thought, is thus obvious. The genesis of social ideas in early Greek philosophy is analyzed. The author explicates «social» views in the works of a number of pre-Socratic thinkers. The work uses the methods of discourse analysis and actor-network theory. As a result of the theoretical study, the most significant mechanisms of the genesis of the «social» at the beginning of the European intellectual tradition have been identified.

scholarly journals Metaorder of categories vs/and metacategories of order

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
High Potential ◽  
Important Distinction ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Discourse

The article is devoted to the theoretical study of theory as an order of production of this theory at the categorical level. Based on historical and sociological material and conceptual analysis, the author explores the logic of the development of sociology as a science using the metacategory of order as an example. The author analyzes a number of views prevailing in sociology on issues of abstraction and specificity, empiricism and theory, generalizations and refinements, universalist conceptualism and particular applicability. It is emphasized that the abstraction, selection and construction of metacategories is the main way not only in the “normal sciences” (according to T. Kuhn), but also in the sciences that can oppose themselves to them, including in various sociology projects. As an example of metalanguages the development of N. Luhmann’s theory and actor-network theory are studied. The ways of introducing metacategories into sociology, their abstraction and approval are investigated. Three key sources of metacategories for sociology are identified (selfmovement of sociology, borrowing from philosophy, extraction from other sciences). An important distinction between metacategories, categories and official words in sociological theorizing is introduced. Separate emphasis is placed on the analysis of how metacategories are practiced in sociological discourse. The author’s hypotheses and preliminary conclusions are verified on the basis of material metacategories of the social order in the interpretation of a number of leading theoretical sociologists. For verification, P.A. Sorokin, T. Parsons, P. Bourdieu and E. Goffmann theories were used. The conclusion about the epistemological significance of metacategories for sociology and about their role in the scientific order of the organization of knowledge is drawn. In particular, the author proves that the study of the metacategory of order allows to reveal the metaorder of categories in theoretical sociology. Order as one of the most abstract, least “colored” and methodologically biased metacategories in this sense has a high potential for explicating the logic of the development of sociology.

scholarly journals Duše předmětu a tělo modlitby aneb zkoumání sociologických nejistot na případu Sóka Gakkai International

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Petra Tlčimuková
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soka Gakkai ◽  
The Relationship

This case study presents the results of long-term original ethnographic research on the international Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It focuses on the relationship between the material and immaterial and deals with the question of how to study them in the sociology of religion. The analysis builds upon the critique of the modernist paradigm and related research of religion in the social sciences as presented by Harman, Law and Latour. The methodology draws on the approach of Actor-Network Theory as presented by Bruno Latour, and pursues object-oriented ethnography, for the sake of which the concept of iconoclash is borrowed. This approach is applied to the research which focused on the key counterparts in the Buddhist praxis of SGI ‒ the phrase daimoku and the scroll called Gohonzon. The analysis deals mainly with the sources of sociological uncertainties related to the agency of the scroll. It looks at the processes concerning the establishing and dissolving of connections among involved elements, it opens up the black-boxes and proposes answers to the question of new conceptions of the physical as seen through Gohonzon.

Entanglement, Materiality and the Social Organisation of Construction Workers in Classical Athens

2018 ◽  
pp. 512-528
Author(s):  
Diane Harris Cline
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
Building Program

This chapter views the “Periclean Building Program” through the lens of Actor Network Theory, in order to explore the ways in which the construction of these buildings transformed Athenian society and politics in the fifth century BC. It begins by applying some Actor Network Theory concepts to the process that was involved in getting approval for the building program as described by Thucydides and Plutarch in his Life of Pericles. Actor Network Theory blends entanglement (human-material thing interdependence) with network thinking, so it allows us to reframe our views to include social networks when we think about the political debate and social tensions in Athens that arose from Pericles’s proposal to construct the Parthenon and Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis, the Telesterion at Eleusis, the Odeon at the base of the South slope of the Acropolis, and the long wall to Peiraeus. Social Network Analysis can model the social networks, and the clusters within them, that existed in mid-fifth century Athens. By using Social Network Analysis we can then show how the construction work itself transformed a fractious city into a harmonious one through sustained, collective efforts that engaged large numbers of lower class citizens, all responding to each other’s needs in a chaine operatoire..

Uncertainties Revisited

2019 ◽  
pp. 216-237
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Huybrechts ◽  
Katrien Dreessen ◽  
Selina Schepers
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Uncertainty Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Matters Of Concern ◽  
Uncertainty Models ◽  
Do So

In this chapter, the authors use actor-network theory (ANT) to explore the relations between uncertainties in co-design processes and the quality of participation. To do so, the authors investigate Latour's discussion uncertainties in relation to social processes: the nature of actors, actions, objects, facts/matters of concern, and the study of the social. To engage with the discussion on uncertainties in co-design and, more specific in infrastructuring, this chapter clusters the diversity of articulations of the role and place of uncertainty in co-design into four uncertainty models: (1) the neoliberal, (2) the management, (3) the disruptive, and (4) the open uncertainty model. To deepen the reflections on the latter, the authors evaluate the relations between the role and place of uncertainty in two infrastructuring processes in the domain of healthcare and the quality of these processes. In the final reflections, the authors elaborate on how ANT supported in developing a “lens” to assess how uncertainties hinder or contribute to the quality of participation.

Actor-Network Theory and Autopoiesis

2009 ◽  
pp. 67-79
Author(s):  
Lars Steiner
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Over Time

A new knowledge management perspective and tool, ANT/AUTOPOIESIS, for analysis of knowledge management in knowledge-intensive organizations is presented. An information technology (IT) research and innovation co-operation between university actors and companies interested in the area of smart home IT applications is used to illustrate analysis using this perspective. Actor-network theory (ANT) and the social theory of autopoiesis are used in analyzing knowledge management, starting from the foundation of a research co-operation. ANT provides the character of relations between actors and actants, how power is translated by actors and the transformation of relations over time. The social theory of autopoiesis provides the tools to analyze organizational closure and reproduction of organizational identity. The perspective used allows a process analysis, and at the same time analysis of structural characteristics of knowledge management. Knowledge management depends on powerful actors, whose power changes over time. Here this power is entrepreneurial and based on relations and actors’ innovation knowledge.

scholarly journals Recovering critique in an age of datafication

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135-1151
Author(s):  
Nick Couldry
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Questions

This article starts out from the need for critical work on processes of datafication and their consequences for the constitution of social knowledge and the social world. Current social science work on datafication has been greatly shaped by the theoretical approach of Bruno Latour, as reflected in the work of Actor Network Theory and Science and Technology Studies (ANT/STS). The article asks whether this approach, given its philosophical underpinnings, provides sufficient resources for the critical work that is required in relation to datafication. Drawing on Latour’s own reflections about the flatness of the social, it concludes that it does not, since key questions, in particular about the nature of social order cannot be asked or answered within ANT. In the article’s final section, three approaches from earlier social theory are considered as possible supplements to ANT/STS for a social science serious about addressing the challenges that datafication poses for society.

Beyond ANT

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Till Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Theoretical Design ◽  
The Social ◽  
Actor Networks

Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) offers an ‘infra-language’ of the social that allows one to trace social relations very dynamically, while at the same time dissolving human agency, thus providing a flat and de-centred way into sociology. However, ANT struggles with its theoretical design that may lead us to reduce agency to causation and to conceptualize actor-networks as homogeneous ontologies of force. This article proposes to regard ANT’s inability to conceptualize reflexivity and the interrelatedness of different ontologies as the fundamental problem of the theory. Drawing on Günther, it offers an ‘infra-language’ of reflexive relations while maintaining ANT’s de-centred approach. This would enable us to conceptualize actor-networks as non-homogeneous, dynamic and connecting different societal rationales while maintaining the main strengths of ANT.

The researcher-initiated autobiography’s work as an actant in producing knowledge about the social

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-322
Author(s):  
Jorid Krane Hanssen
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Social ◽  
Emotional Effects

This article addresses how a researcher-initiated autobiography’s work as an actant may offer illuminating insights into how we as humans and nonhumans are associated in networks. The aim is to discuss how the effects of these associations produce knowledge about the social. With inspiration from actor-network theory and by using an example of a researcher-initiated autobiography from the study ‘The Daughters and Sons of Rainbow Families’, the discussion firstly concentrates on how associations between the autobiography and the researcher may produce emotional effects. Secondly, the discussion focuses on how a researcher-initiated autobiography works as an actant ‘in itself’. This indicates the necessity to trace associations between the written events (actants) in the text, and discuss their effects. As an example, the article addresses how associations between written events concerning family members, produce knowledge about the relations between the members.

Using critical realism in critical accounting research – a commentary by two ANTs

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 655-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baxter ◽  
Wai Fong Chua
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Modell’s arguments regarding the relative usefulness of critical realist philosophy in relation to actor-network theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors outline the challenges in applying critical realism to critical accounting. The authors then consider Modell’s criticisms of actor-network theory, providing a counterargument highlighting the methodological choices distinguishing actor-network theory from critical realism.FindingsThe authors argue that critical realism, whilst providing an interesting addition to the critical accounting research project, confronts challenges disentangling intransitive and transitive forms of knowledge. Actor-network theory is presented as a way of examining accounting practices as local associations, providing practical opportunities to study (the assembly of) “the social”.Research limitations/implicationsMethodological diversity is to be explored, acknowledging the ontological politics of our choices.Originality/valueThis paper is an original commentary contributing to critical accounting research.

The Construction of a Network Technology: Electronic Livestock Auction Markets

1998 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 183-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Graham
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Network Technology ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Network Building ◽  
The Social

This paper uses Callon's actor network theory (ANT) to analyse the emergence of an inter-organisational network innovation: electronic livestock auction systems in the United Kingdom. It is based on a study of the development of these systems by drawing on interviews with developers, operators and users of the competing systems and focusing on the social networks that evolved in their conception and adoption. The validity of ANT as a framework for the analysis of innovation is critically considered. The paper concludes that complexity and barriers to network building led the networks to be constructed from existing components and social linkages, thereby limiting the potential of the innovation to incorporate radical change in the social structure.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document