Suchman, L. A. (2005) Affiliative Objects. Organization, 12 (3). pp. 379-399.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Through the case of a particular organization devoted to technological research and development, this paper investigates how values of the ‘new’ operate in what Appadurai (1986) has characterized as the social life of objects. Drawing on previous scholarship in anthropology and science and technology studies, I adopt the trope of the ‘affiliative object’ to describe the relational dynamics of association (and disassociation) that characterize the identification of objects and persons. This perspective emphasizes the multiplicity of objects within the unfolding and uncertain trajectories of organizational life, as both problem and resource for organization members. The paper examines how ‘object-centered sociality’ (Knorr-Cetina, 1997) is enacted as a strategic, but also contingent, resource in the alignment of professional identities and organizational positionings.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Organization |
| Additional Information: | RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Sociology |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | identity • invention • materiality • multiplicity • object-centered sociality |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
| Departments: | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > Sociology |
| ID Code: | 3495 |
| Deposited By: | ep_importer |
| Deposited On: | 13 Mar 2008 16:31 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2012 17:43 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/3495 |
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