Assemblage (philosophy)

Assemblage (from French: agencement, "a collection of things which have been gathered together or assembled") is a philosophical approach for studying the ontological diversity of agency, which means redistributing the capacity to act from an individual to a socio-material network of people, things, and narratives.^[1]^[2] Also known as assemblage theory^[3] or assemblage thinking,^[4]^[1] this philosophical approach frames social complexity through fluidity, exchangeability, and their connectivity. The central thesis is that people do not act predominantly according to personal agency; rather, human action requires material interdependencies and a network of discursive devices distributed across legal, geographical, cultural, or economic infrastructures.

There are multiple philosophical approaches that use an assemblage perspective. One version is associated with Manuel DeLanda in work on assemblage theory.^[3] Another is associated to the work of Bruno Latour and Michel Callon on Actor-network theory.^[5] A third draws from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.^[6] A fourth from Michel Pêcheux's discourse analysis. The similarities among these versions include a relational view of social reality in which human action results from shifting interdependencies between material, narrative, social, and geographic elements.^[1] The theories have in common an account for emergent qualities that result from associations between human and non-humans. In other words, an assemblage approach asserts that, within a body, the relationships of component parts are not stable and fixed; rather, they can be displaced and replaced within and among other bodies, thus approaching systems through relations of exteriority.^[7]

^ ^a ^b ^c Diaz Ruiz, Carlos A.; Penaloza, Lisa; Holmqvist, Jonas (2020-03-07). "Assembling tribes: An assemblage thinking approach to the dynamics of ephemerality within consumer tribes". European Journal of Marketing. 54 (5): 999–1024. doi:10.1108/EJM-08-2018-0565. ISSN 0309-0566. S2CID 216399732.
^ McFarlane, Colin; Anderson, Ben (June 2011). "Thinking with assemblage: Thinking with assemblage". Area. 43 (2): 162–164. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4762.2011.01012.x.
^ ^a ^b De Landa, Manuel (2016). Assemblage theory. Edinburgh. ISBN 978-1-4744-1364-0. OCLC 964447319.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Assembling consumption : researching actors, networks and markets. Robin Canniford, Domen Bajde. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon. 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-58963-1. OCLC 921887931.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^ Latour, Bruno (2005). Reassembling the social : an introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-153126-2. OCLC 560570874.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Deleuze, Gilles (1987). A thousand plateaus : capitalism and schizophrenia. Félix Guattari, Brian Massumi. Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0-8166-1401-6. OCLC 16472336.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Wikis.la.utexas.edu,. (2016). Assemblage Theory | University of Texas Theory. Retrieved 1 March 2016, from "Assemblage Theory | Texas Theory". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

[:2-1] Diaz Ruiz, Carlos A.; Penaloza, Lisa; Holmqvist, Jonas (2020-03-07). "Assembling tribes: An assemblage thinking approach to the dynamics of ephemerality within consumer tribes". European Journal of Marketing. 54 (5): 999–1024. doi:10.1108/EJM-08-2018-0565. ISSN 0309-0566. S2CID 216399732.

[2] McFarlane, Colin; Anderson, Ben (June 2011). "Thinking with assemblage: Thinking with assemblage". Area. 43 (2): 162–164. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4762.2011.01012.x.

[:1-3] De Landa, Manuel (2016). Assemblage theory. Edinburgh. ISBN 978-1-4744-1364-0. OCLC 964447319.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[4] Assembling consumption : researching actors, networks and markets. Robin Canniford, Domen Bajde. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon. 2016. ISBN 978-1-317-58963-1. OCLC 921887931.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)

[5] Latour, Bruno (2005). Reassembling the social : an introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-153126-2. OCLC 560570874.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[6] Deleuze, Gilles (1987). A thousand plateaus : capitalism and schizophrenia. Félix Guattari, Brian Massumi. Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0-8166-1401-6. OCLC 16472336.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[UT2016-7] Wikis.la.utexas.edu,. (2016). Assemblage Theory | University of Texas Theory. Retrieved 1 March 2016, from "Assemblage Theory | Texas Theory". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-01.

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