Sociality

The notion of 'sociality' is now widely used within the social sciences and humanities. However, what is meant by the term varies radically, and the contributors here, through compelling and wide ranging essays, identify the strengths and weaknesses of current definitions and their deployment in the social sciences. By developing their own rigorous and innovative theory of human sociality, they re-set the framework of the debate and open up new possibilities for conceptualizing other forms of sociality, such as that of animals or materials. Cases from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe explore the new directions of human sociality, illuminating how and why it is transformed when human beings engage with such major issues as economic downturn, climate change, new regimes of occupational and psychological therapy, technological innovations in robotics and the creation of new online, 'virtual' environments. This book is an invaluable resource, not only for research and teaching, but for anyone interested in the question of what makes us social.

Nicholas J. Long is Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of Being Malay in Indonesia (NUS/NIAS/University of Hawai’i Press, 2013) and the co-editor of Southeast Asian Perspectives on Power (Routledge, 2012) and The Social Life of Achievement (Berghahn Books, 2013).

Henrietta L. Moore is Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London where she is also Chair of Culture, Philosophy and Design. Among her recent books is Still Life: Hopes, Desires and Satisfactions (Polity Press, 2011).