TY  - JOUR
TI  - The Return of Material: “Spaces”, “Networks”, “Flows” in Actor-Network Theory
T2  - The Russian Sociological Review
IS  - The Russian Sociological Review
KW  - Material turn
KW  - spaciality
KW  - neo-Leibnitzianism
KW  - social topology
KW  - actor-network theory
KW  - Bruno Latour
KW  - John Law
KW  - Erving Goffman
AB  - This paper is dedicated to a neo-Leibnitzian reconceptualization of spatiality in current sociological theory. The material turn, one of the most significant events of XX - XXI sociology, has dramatically altered the very agenda of sociological thinking in 1990s and keeps on strengthening its influence on social theorizing. Alongside the revision of basic ontological and epistemological assumptions, it brought back the category of "space" neglected for a long time in social thought. However, two major theoretical projects in current actor-network theory ("social topology" by John Law and "sociology of materiality" by Bruno Latour) suggest two different strategies for rehabilitation of "space". Analyzing the return of the material object in social theory and its hidden conceptual implications, the author compares these two strategies, their axiomatic assumptions, basic metaphors and philosophical resources.
AU  - Viktor Vakhshtayn
UR  - https://sociologica.hse.ru/en/2005-4-1/28147282.html
PY  - 2005
SP  - 94-115
VL  - 4