On Assemblages and Things: Fluidity, Stability, Causation Stories, and Formation Stories
Abstract
This article conducts a dialogue and creates a new synthesis between two of the most influential ontological discourses in the field of sociology: assemblage theory and critical realism. The former proposes a focus on difference, fluidity, and process, the latter a focus on stability and structure. Drawing on and assessing the work of Deleuze, DeLanda, and Bhaskar, we argue that social ontology must overcome the tendency to bifurcate between these two poles and instead develop an ontology more suited to explaining complex social phenomena by accommodating elements of both traditions. Going beyond DeLanda’s recent work, we argue that a concept of causal types must be used alongside a typology of structures to give us an ontology that can sustain sociology’s need for both formation stories and causation stories. We illustrate the necessity and value of our proposed synthesis by discussing MacKenzie’s recent empirical analysis of a high-frequency trading firm.
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Biographies
Timothy Rutzou is a sociologist and philosopher who works within the philosophy of social science and the sociology of knowledge and has a number of interests, including continental philosophy, political ontology, Marxism, cultural sociology, and the sociology of art. He earned his PhD in philosophy at the University College London studying under Roy Bhaskar. As a postdoc in the sociology department at Yale, he played a leading role in establishing the Critical Realism Network.
Dave Elder-Vass is a reader in sociology in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Loughborough University, UK. He has published widely on social theory, the philosophy of the social sciences, and political economy, including three books: The Causal Power of Social Structures, The Reality of Social Construction, and Profit and Gift in the Digital Economy.
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Article first published online: December 17, 2019
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