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Contents and Abstracts in English
Sosiologia, the Journal of the Westermarck Society, Vol. 52, 2015, No. 1
Editor-in-chief Eeva Luhtakallio | subeditor Tuukka Ylä-Anttila
www.sosiologia.fi | [email protected] | [email protected]
Sosiologia, P O Box 16 (Snellmaninkatu 12), 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Current Contents
Osmo Kivinen & Tero Piiroinen:
The Accelerating Rhythm of Human Evolution.
From a Transactional Naturalist Standpoint. 4
Jukka Törrönen, Christoffer Tigerstedt & Elina Vismanen:
What Can Actor-Network Theory Contribute to Addiction Research?
Autobiographies as a Touchstone of Latourian Analysis. The Accelerating Rhythm of Human
Evolution:
From a Transactional Naturalist
Standpoint
Osmo Kivinen, Doctor of Social Sciences,
Professor, Director, Research Unit for the
Sociology of Education (R U S E),
University of Turku
Tero Piiroinen, Doctor of Social Sciences,
Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Unit for the
Sociology of Education (R U S E),
University of Turku
Too many sociologists still shy away from biological or evolution-theoretical explanations of
human action. Genetic determinism, which has
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been seen as plaguing the biosciences, is fading
as approaches like epigenetics – opening genes
up to social influence – are gaining ground. Moreover, the idea of ecological niche-construction
has become popular in evolution-theoretical
discussions, and it too opens up the debate on
human evolution towards the social sciences.
The niche-construction approach goes together
with what is herein dubbed the ”transactional
naturalist“ standpoint; from that standpoint,
organisms and populations are understood to
affect their environment and to therefore encounter also both intentional and unintentional
effects of their own actions. Methodologically
consistent with Deweyan pragmatism, transactional naturalism challenges the ”intrinsic naturalism“ typical of uncompromising evolutionary
psychology, where individuals are everything and
the development of the environment is left unspecified – the environment only selects the fittest
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genetic traits. Institutions and other elements of
the accumulating, cooperatively produced sociocultural environment are part of the most recent
ecological niche of human beings. The timeline
of evolution is almost incomprehensibly long,
though the pace of human evolution has been
quickening due to the accumulation of culture.
Understanding evolution is thoroughly tied to
time. The concept and social nature of time have
always featured among the most topical concerns
of sociology, too.
Keyw o rd s : Accumulation of culture, ecological
niche, evolution, time, transactional naturalism.
What Can Actor-Network Theory
Contribute to Addiction Research?
Autobiographies as a Touchstone of
Latourian Analysis
Jukka Törrönen, Doctor of Social Sciences,
Professor, Stockholm University
Christoffer Tigerstedt, Doctor of Social
Sciences, Senior Researcher, National Institute
for Health and Welfare
Elina Vismanen, Master of Social Sciences,
Researcher, National Institute for Health and
Welfare
This article argues that preventing and treating
addiction is not so much about freeing oneself
from dependency as it is about recognizing actor
networks that create compulsions for repetition
and replacing them with dependencies which
open up actions. We analyse autobiographies that
describe alcohol addiction by applying and evaluating the Latourian method. Addiction is appro-
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ached as a unique action by focusing on the mediations, assemblages and chains of translations
that produce compulsive addiction, or end it and
strengthen attachments to a more balanced life.
Autobiographies are well suited for actor-network
analysis, since as a genre, they encourage actors
to depict the unique and concrete circumstances, environments, consequences and interaction
processes which have signposted and guided their
lives. The article tests what a Latourian approach
can contribute to an analysis of autobiographical
data and addictions, and what problems it entails.
It suggests that in Latourian analysis of autobiographies, every action sequence is taken separately
under scrutiny to see what kinds of connections
the addiction attaches to and detaches from in
each sequence. The analysis follows how the addiction circulates from sequence to another as a
collective of multiple elements, which as an actornetwork either feeds the addiction or weakens it.
It is crucial to keep the analysis flat and avoid hierarchical dichotomies between micro and macro
or action and structure. Thus, narratives and
evaluations of events by the autobiographer are
seen as mediators that are subordinate to concrete action sequences. If the analysis is abstracted to
the level of the plot, emotional, social and cultural
factors become too strong and independent and
cease to be interpreted as actants that get their
action-mediating force by adhering in a unique
way to material and bodily factors. At the same
time, focusing the analysis on actor-networks that
are constructed in concrete action sequences prevents a one-sided explanation of addiction by cultural meaning structures, genotype, neurobiology
or personality disorders.
K eyw o rd s: Actor-network-theory, addiction, alcohol, autobiographies, Latour.