What role does matter play in making social worlds

QUESTION; WORD COUNT 1850. What role does matter play in making social worlds secure or insecure? Illustrate your answer with reference to any two chapters from Security: Sociology and Social Worlds DD308 Student notes This question can be answered in a number of ways. However, in some form, your assignment will need to: • explain what is meant by ‘matter’ • explain what is meant by ‘security’ in social worlds • examine the relationship between matter and security in social worlds • use illustrative examples drawn from any two chapters of the Security book to support your argument (excluding Chapter 2). The concept of ‘matter’ is discussed in various places in the module, including ‘Security revisited [ Tip: hold ⌘ and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip) ] ’, the Security book’s Introduction and Afterword, and the ‘Airports’ section of ‘Passports: registering the individual’. All of the Security book’s chapters (Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5) are, of course, relevant to the question but the discussion of actor-network theory in Chapters 1 and 5 is particularly so, as is the ‘Airports’ section of ‘Passports: registering the individual’. The Security audio discussions will also prove a useful resource. In the Introduction to Security, it is argued that a focus on matter is a useful way to explore the practices by which people ‘make the social’ through objects, artefacts and ‘material practices’. Matter also helps to draw attention to the ways in which things such as rocks or weather – things that seem to exist beyond the social world – remain social through the ways that they are understood and put to use. This connection between the social and the material worlds is developed in the notion of co-production, discussed in Chapter 5, which should prove relevant to your discussion. At its core, the question asks you to consider the various ways in which security is influenced by matter; the ways in which a sense of security or insecurity seems to require certain sorts of material (for instance, a home or an SUV); and the ways in which matter can resist or even subvert the human uses to which it is put (as in the case of the allotment produce discussed in Chapter 1). You will find useful examples in Chapter 3 (the sections on routines and material in the home); Chapter 1 (the perplexing questions raised by analysis of the allotment soil); and Chapter 4 (the discussion of the contradictory consequences of security measures such as CCTV and gated communities). Finally, in Chapter 5, you will find sustained and extensive discussion of the subtle interplay between material and social forces in the development of scientific knowledge of health and disease. You will need to be selective in your choice of examples and, to guide this choice, you might find it helpful to think about the different aspects of the relation between the material/social that different examples reveal. Note that, although you are asked to illustrate your answer with examples taken from any two chapters (excluding Chapter 2), your conceptual argument is likely to be drawn from across the range of module material. In addition to a well-structured and fluently argued piece of writing, your tutor will be looking for an: • understanding of relevant concepts, examples and arguments • ability to use concepts and arguments to help explain the role played by matter in making social worlds secure or insecure • ability to illustrate that explanation with appropriate examples. Remember to provide a word count (excluding the title and references but including in-text citations) at the end of your assignment