Doctoral School in Theoretical Foundations and Theory-Building: Performativity and post-humanist traditions (ANT, STS)

About

This course introduces students to the post-humanist traditions of Science and Technology Studies, Actor-Network Theory and performativity. The first part of the course focuses on the original sociological theoretical traditions as well as key current debates in the sociological literature. The second part explores how these theories travelled to organization theory, marketing and consumer behaviour. The course situates post-humanist traditions in relation to the longer history of sociology, and business studies and explores different approaches and debates within them. Beyond the theoretical core element, student will learn how to apply the theories to their own doctoral project in methodological terms.

1) Sociology of technology and Actor-Network Theory (MacKenzie – in person in Lugano) 8 September (9:30 – 12:30)
2) Performativity (MacKenzie – in person in Lugano) 9 September (9:30 – 12:30)
3) Material political economy (MacKenzie – in person in Lugano) 10 September (9:30 – 12:30)
4) Performativity and sociomaterial approaches in organization theory (Pellandini-Simanyi – online) 15 Sept (9:30 – 12:30)
5) Performativity and sociomaterial approaches in marketing and in constructivist market studies (Pellandini-Simanyi – online) 16 Sept (9:30 – 12:30)
6) Performativity and sociomaterial approaches in consumer behaviour (Pellandini-Simanyi – online) 17 Sept (9:30 – 12:30)
7) Designing research projects with performativity and ANT (MacKenzie -online) 18 Sept (09:30-11:00)
8) Essay Q&A and Conclusion (Pellandini-Simanyi - online) 18 Sept (11:00-12:30)

Course leader

Prof. Donald MacKenzie (University of Edinburgh) and Prof. Léna Pellandini-Simanyi (Università della Svizzera italiana)

Target group

This programme is ideal for PhD students working in qualitative research areas of marketing and organisation studies. The course is organised in the logic of a doctoral course, providing opportunities to grasp and discuss the key discourses and sensitising distinctions of a specific theoretical approach and/or research domain. It is also open to PostDocs who can benefit from such a foundational course

Course aim

The course enables students to gain an understanding of key post-humanist theories in sociology and their differences/debates to understand their most prominent applications in business studies, particularly in organization theory, marketing and consumer behaviour to reflect on the differences between the different theories, including their normative, political and methodological implications apply the theories to their own doctoral research develop their critical and analytical skills.

Teaching mode

In presence (first three sessions) and online (last four sessions).

Learning methods

The class consists of lectures and discussions. Students will be required to read the assigned core readings, prepare answers to discussion questions and write a final essay.

Examination information

In-class discussions (20%)
Final essay (80%)
Bibliography

Indicative bibliography – please refer to iCorsi for details

Araujo, L., J. Finch, et al. (2010). Reconnecting Marketing to Markets: An introduction. Reconnecting Marketing to Markets. L. Araujo, J. Finch and H. Kjellberg. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Bajde, D. (2013). Consumer culture theory (re) visits actor–network theory: Flattening consumption studies. Marketing Theory, 13(2), 227-242.

Butler, J. (2011). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. Routledge.

Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J. and R. I. Sutton. "Economics language and assumptions: How theories can become self-fulfilling." Academy of Management review 30.1 (2005): 8-24.

Geiger, S., Mason, K., Pollock, N., Roscoe, P., Ryan, A., Schwarzkopf, S., & Trompette, P. eds. (2024). Market Studies: Mapping, Theorizing and Impacting Market Action.

Gond, J.-P., L. Cabantous, et al. (2016). "What do we mean by performativity in organizational and management theory? The uses and abuses of performativity." International Journal of Management Reviews 18(4): 440-464.

Kjellberg, H. and C.-F. Helgesson (2006). "Multiple versions of markets: Multiplicity and performativity in market practice." Industrial Marketing Management 35(7): 839-855.

Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford ; New York, Oxford University Press.

MacKenzie, D., & Millo, Y. (2003). Constructing a market, performing theory: The historical sociology of a financial derivatives exchange. American journal of sociology, 109(1), 107-145.

MacKenzie, D. and J. Wajckman, Eds. (1999). The Social Shaping of Technology. Maidenhead, Open University Press.

MacKenzie, D. (2022) "High-Frequency Trading and the Material Political Economy of Finance." Financial Markets in Perspective: Lessons from Economic History and History of Economic Thought. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 83-100.

Marti, E., & Gond, J. P. (2019). How do theories become self-fulfilling? Clarifying the process of Barnesian performativity. Academy of Management Review, 44(3), 686-694.

Nøjgaard, M. Ø., & Bajde, D. (2021). Comparison and cross-pollination of two fields of market systems studies. Consumption Markets & Culture, 24(2), 125-146.

Pavlyuchenko, R., & Dion, D. (2024). How the Materials of Objects Shape Consumption: An Affordance Theory Perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, ucae064.

Pellandini-Simányi, L. (2016). Non-marketizing agents in the study of markets: competing legacies of performativity and actor-network-theory in the marketization research program. Journal of Cultural Economy, 9(6), 570-586.

Pinch, T. J., & Bijker, W. E. (1984). The social construction of facts and artefacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Social studies of science, 14(3), 399-441

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