A Sociology of Nothing: Understanding the Unmarked. (February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Scott, Susie
• Is Part Of: Sociology. Volume 52:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 19
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Subjects: absence -- emptiness -- identity -- invisibility -- nothing -- silence -- Symbolic Interactionism; Sociology -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Periodicals; Sociologie -- Périodiques; Sociologie; Electronic journals; 301.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0038038517690681
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-0385

Abstract

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.