Organizing the Organism: A Re-Casting of the Bio-Social Interface for Our Times

Abstract

I present a future-oriented look at sociology and anthropology's historical appropriation of the concept of organism. The 'future' of which I speak is one in which the biological and technological are blending together. In cultural and science studies, the figure of the 'cyborg' is often discussed in this context. But the cyborg tends to be treated as a specifically 'postmodern' innovation, whereas the organism has always invited the cyborg's ontological ambivalence. This sensibility goes back to the dawn of both the modern biomedical sciences and the social sciences. I begin on the relatively familiar terrain of the role that emerging medical conceptions of the organism in the mid-nineteenth century played in the formation of such founding figures of sociology and anthropology as Emile Durkheim and Franz Boas. I then move to the specific 'relativization' of Darwin's theory of evolution that fostered turn-of-the-century conceptions of the social organism, including that emergent entity, the 'superorganism', which figures prominently -albeit differently -in the attempts to characterize the uniquely 'human' character of culture and technology. Finally I look at one very explicitly 'constructivist' approach to the social organism promoted by the distinguished chemist Wilhelm Ostwald, who was in turn anathematized by Max Weber in one of the original episodes of sociology's disciplinary boundary maintenance. The pride of place that Ostwald gave to 'catalysts' in consolidating and enhancing social organisms -from business firms to academic disciplines -earns his perspective a second look in our time. I end with directions for further exploration, which include reviving Norbert Wiener's cybernetic vision. The medical organism as the original bio-social interfaceAs late as the 1970s, anthropology dealt with pre-modern if not all pre-literate societies, whereas sociology dealt with modern if not all literate societies. While anthropologists and sociologists disputed how their respective jurisdictions should be drawn in time and space, they agreed that biologists dealt with aspects of the human condition that lay farther back in time and potentially included all of its

Peran Kegiatan Kreasso sebagai Upaya dalam Mempertahankan Kesenian Tradisional di Era Globalisasi

“…Istilah fungsi juga dijelaskan oleh Radcliffe, adanya pola kehidupan di dalam manusia sebagai tanda dari keberfungsian struktur organisme tubuh manusia (Brown, 1952). Keberjalanan fungsi merupakan sebuah peranan yang dijalankan atau kontribusi yang diberikan oleh individu dengan individu, kelompok, maupun institusi, tujuannya adalah untuk menjaga kelangsungan hidup secara menyeluruh (Fuller, 2016).…”