New materialisms and social research methodology

The new materialisms are a range of contemporary perspectives that are characterised by relationality, post-anthropocentrism and monism. As such, they supply a novel perspective on both the social world and social inquiry. The focus of research shifts from individual bodies or other materialities to contextual assemblages. In place of a focus on human agency, these perspectives acknowledge a wide range of human and non-human agencies that together produce the world. Finally, they cut across many conventional dualisms including culture/nature, micro/macro, human/non-human and agency/structure. Without structures or systems, power in new materialist theory works micropolitically, leading new materialist theorists to focus on the forces and affects operating in everyday interactions and events. This entry explores the main strands and theoretical perspectives within new materialist theory, and then shows how this translates into a conceptual toolkit that maybe used in empirical social scientific studies.