Authors and Corporations: | |
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In: | Sociology, 52, 2018, 1, p. 3-19 |
published: |
SAGE Publications
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Media Type: | Article, E-Article |
Physical Description: | 3-19 |
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ISSN: |
0038-0385
1469-8684 |
DOI: | 10.1177/0038038517690681 |
published in: | Sociology |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Collection: | SAGE Publications (CrossRef) |
<jats:p>Nothing is a sociologically neglected terrain, comprising negatively defined phenomena, such as non-identification, non-participation and non-presence. Nevertheless, these symbolic social objects are created and managed through meaningful social interaction. Nothing is accomplished either by active commission (doing/being a non-something) or by passive omission (not-doing/not-being something). I explore these dichotomous forms through four dimensions of negative social space: non-identity; inactivity; absence; and silence. Paradoxically, nothing is always productive of something: other symbolic objects come into being through the apprehension of phantoms, imaginaries, replacements and alternatives, which generate further constitutive meanings. A sociological analysis illuminates these processes, revealing how much nothing matters.</jats:p> |