In this important new book, Manuel DeLanda, distinguished writer, artist and philosopher, offers a fascinating look at how the contemporary world is characterized by an extraordinary social complexity. Since most social entities, from small communities to large nation states, would disappear altogether if human minds ceased to exist, DeLanda proposes a novel approach to social ontology that asserts the autonomy of social entities from the conceptions we have of them. DeLanda argues that Gilles Deleuze's theory of assemblages provides a framework in which sociologists and geographers studying social networks and regions can properly locate their work and fully elucidate the connections between them. Indeed, assemblage theory, as DeLanda argues, can be used to model any community, from interpersonal networks and institutional organizations, to central governments, cities and nation states.
This highly original book takes the reader on a journey that starts with personal relations and climbs up one scale at a time all the way to territorial states and beyond. Only by experiencing this upward movement can we get a sense of the irreducible social complexity that characterizes the contemporary world.
About the Author:
Manuel DeLanda is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University
