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Provocative Containment And The Drift Of Social-Scientific Realism

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  • Javier Lezaun
  • Fabian Muniesa
  • Signe Vikkelsø

Abstract

The post-World War II period gave rise to a large number of social-scientific techniques for investigating and intervening in social reality. A particular group of these, exemplified here by the experiments of Moreno, Lewin, Bion, Milgram and Zimbardo, worked by establishing suggestive micro-realities in which participants were exposed to, or experimented with, selected 'social problems'. We investigate the nature of these techniques - being simultaneously highly artificial and disturbingly realistic - and propose the notion of 'provocative containment' to understand their operation and effects. We point to five ingredients of their characteristic mode of operation - expressionism, incitement, trauma, distillation and technology - and argue that they do not serve to represent a simplified version of social reality, but rather to 'realize' particular forms of social life intrinsic to the medium of provocative containment.

Suggested Citation

  • Javier Lezaun & Fabian Muniesa & Signe Vikkelsø, 2013. "Provocative Containment And The Drift Of Social-Scientific Realism," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 278-293, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:6:y:2013:i:3:p:278-293
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2012.739972
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Tironi & Brice Laurent, 2014. "Experiments for industrial exploration. Testing a car sharing system," CSI Working Papers Series 036, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.

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