Autore
Adolfsson, Petra

Titolo
Just a Box of Pills? When Pharmaceuticals Came to the Supermarket
Periodico
Sociologica
Anno: 2012 - Volume: 17 - Fascicolo: 3 - Pagina iniziale: 0

Actor Network Theory (ANT) has taken on a central role in social sciences, highlightingthe importance of actions in shaping relations and organizations. Studies inspired by ANThave enhanced our understanding of how knowledge and power are produced in laboratories,political arenas, and knowledge- and technology-intensive organizations. However, so far, ANTinspiredstudies have not paid similar attention to situations that lack obvious controversies,but can still have a huge influence on ordinary life. We thus want to contribute to the ANTliterature by showing how ANT can be useful in situations that are not necessarily characterizedby controversies and heated debates, but rather by (cooler) negotiations. In this case it is thenegotiations between the regulator and the regulated that succeed (hot) situations. Regulationsare formulated then enacted in (new) local practice. The performative perspective, prevalentin ANT, makes it possible to study processes that can otherwise easily pass unnoticed, as theyare rather silent. It also helps us to understand how changes can be comprehended as the transformationof assemblies in practice and how the taken-for-granted products in our daily livesare part of (de)stabilized assemblies. In the study reported on here, we examine the process ofintroducing non-prescription pharmaceuticals into the Swedish retail sector, how this affects theday-to-day work of supermarkets, and thus also how these products may not be seen simply asboxes of pills on a shelf, but as plural entities that are (trans)formed in practice by (re)assembling,(re)connecting, and (re)labelling.



SICI: 1971-8853(2012)17:3<0:JABOPW>2.0.ZU;2-Z
Testo completo: http://www.mulino.it/download/article/10.2383/72704
Testo completo alternativo: http://www.mulino.it/doi/10.2383/72704

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