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‘The Social’ and Beyond: Introducing Actor-Network Theory

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Abstract

In recent years, it has been suggested (e.g. TAG 2002, 2006; IKUWA3 2008) that it is necessary for the discipline to move beyond the study of ships and boats towards the ‘wider social contexts’ of seafaring and maritime activity. This paper investigates the contours of ‘social’ as an object of study. Two questions are asked: (1) how is this object defined within sociology, classical and contemporary social theory, and archaeology; and (2) what is the status of nonhumans, physical-material things, artefacts, plants, animals, etc.? After taking a look at several different theories, it is argued that it is not necessary for us to move beyond ships and boats. Instead, an alternative approach is offered, one that allows us to move beyond the restrictive ontology of the social.

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Notes

  1. Sociology is known as the ‘science of the social.’ For examples of the debates, see the 1903 debate between Gabriel Tarde and Emile Durkheim at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales, in Clark 1969, and the 2008 mock repeat of this debate between Bruno Latour and Bruno Karsenti at Cambridge University, available online. See also the many debates played out in early sociology journals, such as The American Journal of Sociology, pp. 1898–1924.

  2. To be honest, I could have taken my pick of metaphors. There are so many other concepts within AO and ATP that illustrate the idea of social flow. In the interest of space, I limited my review. For instance, ‘BwOs,’ or bodies without organs, are unproductive machines, or ‘what remains when you take everything away’ (D&G 1980, p. 150). These can be broken up into various types: empty, full, and cancerous. In addition, they introduce different types of ‘flow:’ laminar, quantum, etc., and different types of ‘strata.’ Here, the particular definitions of each concept are unimportant. The general idea is to emphasise: difference, multiplicity, fluidity, and mobility.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers as well as Jon Adams, Fraser Sturt, Kieran Westley, Ruth Plets, John Murray, David Fesz, Jeff Bogniard, Joseph Iorillo of the Freedonia Group Inc, and especially R. Christopher Dolwick of Allen Memorial Medical Library for their comments, suggestions and advice throughout this research. Additionally, I would like to thank Timothy Webmoor and Christopher Witmore for sending me an advanced copy of their 2008 article. I also want to thank Niels Albertsen and Bülent Diken. And, finally, I would like to thank my family: Professor Michael C. Silk, Ruth Shane Silk and Winnifred Shane Burruss, for their encouragement and support.

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    Jim S. Dolwick

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Dolwick, J.S. ‘The Social’ and Beyond: Introducing Actor-Network Theory. J Mari Arch 4, 21–49 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-009-9044-3

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