Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer Export

@article{citeulike:523209, abstract = {Is sociology the study of social questions, or is it the study of associations? In this paper the author takes the second position and extends the study of our associations to nonhumans. To make the argument clearer, the author chooses one very humble nonhuman, a door-closer, and analyzes how this "purely" technical artifact is a highly moral, highly social actor that deserves careful consideration. Then the author proposes a vocabulary to follow human and nonhuman relations without stopping at artificial divides between what is purely technical and what is social. The author builds "its" or "his" own text in such a way that the text itself is a machine that exemplifies several of the points made by the author. In particular, the author is constructed and deconstructed several times to show how many social actors are inscribed or prescribed by machines and automatisms.}, author = {Johnson, Jim}, citeulike-article-id = {523209}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/800624}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/800624}, doi = {10.2307/800624}, issn = {00377791}, journal = {Social Problems}, keywords = {1988, actants, actors, ant, association, automatism, delegation, door, figurative, hinge, humans, hybrids, ideology, latour, networks, nonhumans, preinscription, prescription, scripts, sociology, technology, translation, vocabulary, winner}, number = {3}, pages = {298--310}, posted-at = {2007-08-23 00:55:45}, priority = {0}, publisher = {University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems}, title = {Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/800624}, volume = {35}, year = {1988} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:523209 L3 - citeulike-article-id:523209 N2 - Is sociology the study of social questions, or is it the study of associations? In this paper the author takes the second position and extends the study of our associations to nonhumans. To make the argument clearer, the author chooses one very humble nonhuman, a door-closer, and analyzes how this "purely" technical artifact is a highly moral, highly social actor that deserves careful consideration. Then the author proposes a vocabulary to follow human and nonhuman relations without stopping at artificial divides between what is purely technical and what is social. The author builds "its" or "his" own text in such a way that the text itself is a machine that exemplifies several of the points made by the author. In particular, the author is constructed and deconstructed several times to show how many social actors are inscribed or prescribed by machines and automatisms. IS - 3 JF - Social Problems SN - 00377791 EP - 310 TI - Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer PB - University of California Press on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems VL - 35 SP - 298 KW - 1988 KW - actants KW - actors KW - ant KW - association KW - automatism KW - delegation KW - door KW - figurative KW - hinge KW - humans KW - hybrids KW - ideology KW - latour KW - networks KW - nonhumans KW - preinscription KW - prescription KW - scripts KW - sociology KW - technology KW - translation KW - vocabulary KW - winner AU - Johnson, Jim PY - 1988/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/800624 ER -