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IV
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF CLASSIFICATIONS |
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This final part of the book attempts to weave the threads from each of the chapters into a broader theoretical fabric. Throughout the book we have demonstrated that categories are tied to the things that people do; to the worlds to which they belong. In large-scale systems those worlds often come into conflict. The conflicts are resolved in a variety of ways. Sometimes boundary objects are created that allow for cooperation across borders. At other times, such as in the case of apartheid, voices are stifled and violence obtains. |
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Chapter 9 discusses an abstract model of the several processes involved in both the development of boundary objects or any other alternatives. The key concept in this chapter is multiplicity both of people's memberships and of the ways in which objects are naturalized simultaneously in more than one world. People become members of many communities of practice. They do so at different rates and with different degrees of completeness. Some communities are all encompassing while others occupy very little of one's life space. Some things are shared quite locally; others become standardized across thousands of social worlds. While it is impossible, and will always be impossible, fully to map the myriad of relationships even a simple situation contains, it is possible to get at least a gestalt sense of the issues involved. |
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The chapter discusses the multiple trajectories of membership and naturalization. It discusses the consequences of some memberships being silenced, ignored, or devalued. It examines the notion of "cyborg" as a term for discussing the relationships between memberships and the naturalization of objects. The categorical exile of people and objects creates a monstrous landscape, such as those seen in chapters 5 and 6. |
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Chapter 9 concludes with recognition of the language that people often use in describing the complexities of people, things, and their |
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