Relational and Dimensional: Heuristic Dimensions in Situational Analysis Using the Example of Care Practices and Their Materiality

Abstract

The consideration of materiality is an essential component of the social sciences of the 21st century. For empirical social research, this poses methodological challenges, especially concerning non-human actors and their corporeality. Therefore, specific analytical strategies are required. Situational analysis, focusing on the relationality of heterogeneous actors generating a situation, offers one such possibility. In this article, we explore the multidimensionality and relationality of materiality through two empirical projects about care practices in the medical field. Examples are euthanizing of horses in veterinary medicine and automated technologies in managing type 1 diabetes. In the analysis, we focus on the materiality of the relational network. We propose to extend the situation analysis toolbox by adding dimensionalizing relational mapping, where we categorize the relations between elements into dimensions. In the examples, we use a dimensionalization inspired by care theory. The use of different colors in the mapping practice highlights the multidimensionality of the situation and gives more analytical space to the complexity of the material and embodied connections.