Lateral Concepts

This essay discusses the complex relation between the knowledges and practices of the researcher and his/her informants in terms of lateral concepts. The starting point is that it is not the prerogative of the (STS) scholar to conceptualize the world; all our “informants” do it too. This creates the possibility of enriching our own conceptual repertoires by letting them be inflected by the concepts of those we study. In a broad sense, the lateral means that there is a many-to-many relation between domains of knowledge and practice. However, each specific case of the lateral is necessarily immanent to a particular empirical setting and form of inquiry. In this sense lateral concepts are radically empirical since it locates concepts within the field. To clarify the meaning and stakes of lateral concepts, we first make a contrast between lateral anthropology and Latour’s notion of infra-reflexivity. We end with a brief illustration and discussion of how lateral conceptualization can re-orient STS modes of inquiry, and why this matters

Continuing a Debate

This supplement contains Mario Blaser's response to the concepts of Political Ontology and Practical Ontology as discussed by Casper Bruun Jensen in his paper »Practical Ontologies Redux«. This article appeared in 2021 Berliner Blätter (issue 84), edited by Michaela Meurer and Kathrin Eitel. It also provides a response by Jensen to Blaser's critique.Not Reviewe

At sortere forbindelser:: Om samfundsforskningens nytte

Hvordan gøres forskning anvendelig? Dette spørgsmål stilles med stigende frekvens af en stadig mere broget forsamling af interessenter: som politikere, virksomheder og forskere selv. Spørgsmålet er ikke neutralt og implicerer ofte at samfundsforskning har et legitimeringspro- blem, på grund af dens nuværende mangel på praktisk nytteværdi. Anvendelighed fremtræ- der således i stigende grad såvel som et politisk krav som en forskningsmæssig bekymring. Ikke mindst konstruktivistisk samfundsteori er vedholdende blevet beskyldt for at være såvel praktisk ubrugelig som politisk konservativ sammenlignet med andre tilgange, som mere aktivt har identificeret sig med sociale agen- daer eller progressive formål. I denne artikel overvejes ideen om samfundsvidenskabelig nytte med en performativ tilgang, der stiller spørgsmålstegn ved skel som det teoretiske og det praktiske og det beskrivende og det normative. Det argumenteres at forskning uaf- vendeligt og kontinuerligt er involveret i at sortere forbindelser til omverdenen og at sam- fundsforskningen med fordel kunne foretage mere nuancerede analyser af omkostningerne ved at gøre sig nyttig samt potentialerne i at sortere sine forbindelser anderledes. Pointerne eksemplificeres ved hjælp af en case fra et anvendt forskningsprojekt i den Canadiske sundhedssektor

Videnskabelighed i et cyborg-perspektiv - TV-programmet Big Brother som videnskabeligt eksperiment

Scientificity in a cyborg-approach By what criteria can it be decided whether a statement is scientific or not? Some scholars stress the objectivity of the statement, whereas subjective dimensions of the scientific activity are viewed as bias ideally to be removed. Others abandon the notion of objectivity as the ideal of research, and view scientific authority as an instrument of power. The purpose of this article is to establish a perspective on sociological scientificity, which is not dependent on these dichotomous positions. Following Donna Haraway, we call this approach a ‘cyborg-approach’. We claim it has the potential to redefine the problem of scientificity without undermining it. Impor-tantly, the cyborg-approach dissolves several deeply imbedded modern dichotomies, not least the radical divide between the human and the technological. Dissolving these implies reconsidering the notions of objectivity and scientificity anew. From a cyborg-perspective scientificity can be reached by the construction of ‘partial connec-tions’ with the investigated. To illustrate this approach we draw on a discussion of the TV-show Big Brother

Praksismagi? - praksis som tidens løsen og problem i videnskabs- og teknologistudier

In science and technology studies (STS) practice has become predominant both as analytical focus and as empirical object. Taking our point of departure in a brief genealogy of the ‘practice turn’, the central aim of this paper is to identify some analytical problems with current uses of ‘practice’. Centrally, we argue, the concept of practice has come to be inscribed with a certain kind of ‘magical’ explanatory power. In contrast, to current practice theory, we suggest that, rather than providing an explanatory framework, practice is what needs to be explained. We further suggest that this requires a simultaneous expansion of the concept, which will enable it to include thinking and theorizing as part of practice, and a theoretical practice minimalism. Finally, we suggest that these requirements are consequential for the political and practical implications of practice theory

PRAKTISK ONTOLOGI: Verdener i STS og antropologi

I denne artikel diskuterer vi spørgsmået om, hvorvidt vi bebor mangfoldige verdener med udgangspunkt i en amoderne tilgang til videnskabs- og teknologistudier (science and technology studies eller STS), som vi kalder praktisk ontologi. På den ene side er denne analytiske position nært beslægtet med antropologiens nylige interesse for ontologi. På den anden side præsenterer vores tilgang en række vigtige forskelle. Disse forskelle vedrører ikke mindst spørgsmål om materialitetens agens, om informanters begrebsliggørelse af egen praksis og om forholdet mellem etnografisk beskrivelse, begrebslig opfindsomhed og politik. Søgeord: videnskabs- og teknologistudier (STS), multiplicitet, materialitet, praksis, verdener &nbsp