Customer Reviews

New Philosophy of Society: Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity

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I thought this was a very useful introduction to Assemblage theory. Of course, as with all of De Landa's work, it is unapologetically Deleuzeian, evinced by copious footnotes citing Deleuze and Guattari at length. This is just an introduction, and I think the title is horrible, despite his explicit statements that he wants to open the debate for an ontology of sociology (personally I think the title evokes a New Age contingent). Finally, the book is written in essay form (intro, body, conclusion) and his conclusions really are recapitulations of statements already made in the body of the text, although, his conclusions seem rushed and truncated, as though he just wanted to get the book to print.

I am an enormous fan of DeLanda. I literally keep copies of Virtual Science and 1000 Years in my desk to give to unsuspecting strangers. When I first cracked 1000 Years, it felt like I was finally seeing the clouds lift on a whole array of challenging subjects.

Which is why I was quick to pick-up A New Philosophy of Society. Yikes! I suppose if you live and breathe sociology and academic social theory, and have never touched anything else by DeLanda, this might be a good read. But otherwise . . .

Honestly, I'm not sure what is going on here. Most of it seems like a retread of ground that DeLanda plowed years ago. To be fair (although this fact seems like the most salient) - I never did finish the book. Its possible that the last 20 pages contain the sweet nectar promised by the books cover. If so, let me know, I'll be waiting for the next installment.

DeLanda's latest book, whilst re-assembling many components from his previous books, is a masterful articulation of his own style. The book provides a rigorous and highly usable conceptual framework for the analysis of social networks or 'assemblages'.