Abstract
Assemblage theory suggests that, in any given situation, there are a variety of things—objects, rules, living beings, technologies, policies, people—that are co-constituting each other due to their situation in a certain time and place, and contributing towards a sense of a stable socio-material reality. It is an approach that is used to tease out complexity and particularity in an attempt to deeply understand what is happening and why in a practical and materially grounded way. In doing so, it emphasizes relationality, complexity, and situatedness. It can be a particularly useful approach to take in trying to explain unique cases and phenomena, the unexpected outcomes of a given set of conditions, or the inability to intervene and change a pattern of action that is undesirable. In the field of Environmental Sociology, it has been particularly appealing due to the ways that elements of the environment and society are meaningfully interrelated in explanations about the operation of the world.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Sociology |
| Editors | Christine Overdevest |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar |
| Pages | 12-16 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781803921044, 9781803921044 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781803921037 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Apr 2024 |