Identity and equipment in biosocial collectives: a material-semiotic reading

• Main Author: Jorge Castillo-Sepúlveda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Santo Tomás 2015-07-01
• Series: Summa Psicologica UST
• Subjects: biosocialidad; identidad; equipamiento; teoría del actor-red
• Online Access: http://summapsicologica.cl/index.php/summa/article/view/245

<p>Biosociality refers to modes of personal and collective identification that are defined from a biological trait. Diverse investigations that have addressed social formations of this type, have exalted how through interaction processes with socio-technical entities, the identity of involved actors is redefined. In this paper are analysed the implications of participation in biosocial collectives to the humans involved, from the actor-network theory. In that sense, it is described how in these spaces the identity behaves as a composition, involving the association of heterogeneous elements which articulate a human to a number of entities that can transform the definition of the self. Also, are acquired meanings that amplify the spectrum of possible actions to face the uncertainty of the disease itself. By using the term of equipment, described by Foucault and rescued by Rabinow, it is considered that participation in biosocial weaves affects the acquisition of new skills to deal with scenarios of uncertainty. An equipment consists in a continuum of actions aimed to a practical purpose involving the preparation to deal with different contexts, from the association to heterogeneous entities.</p>