"Are You Human?": A Plea for a Communication-Theoretical Approach to Interpretive Research at the Borders of the Social

Abstract

Sociology in general and interpretive social research in particular are regarded as human sciences. However, this human-centered perspective has recently been questioned as an "anthropological bias,"  both by debates within social theory and empirical research on non-human agency. Against this background, I address the question of how the anthropological bias in sociology can be overcome and what empirical analysis should look like that deals with non-human agency and the borders of the social. Drawing on competing approaches, namely actor-network theory and actor-centered methodologies, I argue for an analytical perspective that is based on a Luhmannian approach to communication theory and methodology. The thesis is that communication theory offers an appropriate methodological toolbox for symmetrical and open-ended analysis of social border phenomena. In order to demonstrate the potential of the discussed tools, I close with an analysis of a human-machine encounter in a virtual world.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1601183