The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social

by Jean O'Malley Halley (Editor), Patricia Ticineto Clough (Editor)

“The innovative essays in this volume . . . demonstrat[e] the potential of the perspective of the affects in a wide range of fields and with a variety of methodological approaches. Some of the essays . . . use fieldwork to investigate the functions of affects—among organized sex workers, health care workers, and in the modeling industry. Others employ the discourses of microbiology, thermodynamics, information sciences, and cinema studies to rethink the body and the affects in terms of technology. Still others explore the affects of trauma in the context of immigration and war. And throughout all the essays run serious theoretical reflections on the powers of the affects and the political possibilities they pose for research and practice.”—Michael Hardt, from the foreword In the mid-1990s, scholars turned their attention toward the ways that ongoing political, economic, and cultural transformations were changing the realm of the social, specifically that aspect of it described by the notion of pre-individual bodily forces, linked to autonomic responses, which augment or diminish a body’s capacity to act or engage with others. This “affective turn” and the new configurations of bodies, technology, and matter that it reveals, is the subject of this collection of essays. Scholars based in sociology, cultural studies, science studies, and women’s studies illuminate the movement in thought from a psychoanalytically informed criticism of subject identity, representation, and trauma to an engagement with information and affect; from a privileging of the organic body to an exploration of nonorganic life; and from the presumption of equilibrium-seeking closed systems to an engagement with the complexity of open systems under far-from-equilibrium conditions. Taken together, these essays suggest that attending to the affective turn is necessary to theorizing the social. Contributors . Jamie “Skye” Bianco, Grace M. Cho, Patricia Ticineto Clough, Melissa Ditmore, Ariel Ducey, Deborah Gambs, Karen Wendy Gilbert, Greg Goldberg, Jean Halley, Hosu Kim, David Staples, Craig Willse , Elizabeth Wissinger , Jonathan R. Wynn

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Theory, Nonfiction, Cultural, Research

313 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affect theory is bonkers! Is it about feelings? Is it about labor? Is it about *flows*? I love it very much and think that this book is a great intro to the breadth of approaches that are possible with affect theory. Also great to see a book featuring so much graduate student work, how refreshing.

[Ryan Ananat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the contemporary theoretical moment, collecting work from a group of scholars in genuine dialogue. The weak essays are more than made up for by the strong ones.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the chapter on women’s work and Marxism was the best.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the intro and wanna read a few other essays. Academic work = seldom reading full books :( Intro was superb, but I'm not sure that subjectivity is as dead as the Deleuzians might think.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays that attempt to position the ways in which human perception of experience and emotion have changed in a postmodern world.