The Social Life of Things

Things surround us. They are the bedrock of our lives. They are above us, below us, inside us, around us. They are everywhere (in fact, they make ‘everywhere’ possible): the bed we leave in the morning, the sheets we reluctantly unfurl, the clothes we jump into, the bowl into which we pour our cornflakes, the bus we take to work, the room we work in, the park where we go for a lunchtime stroll, the rain that falls, the umbrella under which we take cover. Things. Things. Things.

In exploring some of the key thinkers, theories and ideas associated with the ‘material turn’ in the social sciences, this module takes things seriously. Taking a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach, we explore how people create, value, exchange, consume, contest, discard and dwell in a world of things. We consider the social function and cultural significance of these things (‘what things mean’), as well as exploring the extent to which things might be said to have agency of their own (‘what things do’).

In short, we’ll learn, through theoretical and conceptual reflection (e.g., Actor-Network Theory, reciprocity, affordances, inalienability, new materialism, the more-than-human) and applied examples (e.g., shopping, personal things, evocative things, gifts, commodities) a considerable amount about the social 'thingliness' of things.

"The telephone creates a common space that integrates just as much as Durkheim's religion or Bourdieu's habitus" (Callon, 1991).

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Key information:

Optional module

15 CATS

Summative Assessment: 3000-word portfolio assignment

Teaching: 1 hour lecture & 1 hour seminar per week

Module convenor: Andre CeltelLink opens in a new window