Sociomateriality

This entry to my blog will be short compared to the others.  I thought it was worth mentioning that in the process of my reading for my research I came across some papers on sociomateriality, a concept that seems to be highly relevant for my own research.  A paper by Orlikowski and Scott (2008) entitled 'Sociomateriality: Challenging the Separation of Technology, Work and Organization' appeared to have a special significance given my theoretical lens of ANT.  In fact, Orlikowski and Scott (2008, pg. 434) advance the view "that there is an inherent inseparability between the technical and the social...and "that a reconsideration of conventional views of technology may help us to more effectively study and understand the multiple, emergent, and dynamic sociomaterial configurations that constitute contemporary organizational practices".  Technology (accounting systems) may be a principal mediator and not simply an intermediary.  This paper also discusses actor-netork theory (ANT) as it is considered the most prominent body of literature concerning sociomateriality. 

Another paper, Granovetter (1985) entitled 'Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness" also seems to be speaking my ANT language.  Essentially this paper argues that economic activities/transactions are embedded within a network of social relations and this is the source of so called 'structure'.  It also provides a critique of Williamson's 'market and hierarchies' research that is based on positivist, functional transaction cost economics.