Welcome to the Machine: Rethinking Technology and Society through Assemblage Theory

Abstract

Although it is widely acknowledged that technology plays an increasing role in our lives, attempts to produce analyses of global politics commensurate with that role frequently fall short, suffering from the twin pitfalls of technological determinism and social constructivism. Assemblage theory offers a way through this aporia by grounding its analysis in an ontology that suspends these categories in favour of an understanding of the dynamic evolutionary systems that cut across them. Drawing upon the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Manuel DeLanda, and Bruno Latour, this contribution will seek to outline the theoretical coordinates and methodological principles of an assemblage theory of technology and underline the ways in which it can enrich our understanding of global politics in the twenty-first century.