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S o s i o l o g i a 1/2 015 81 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 19 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 82 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- S o s i o l o g i a 1/2 015 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.