The Concept of  “Clusters” as a New Type of Subject of Human Action

Special Report: Subject and Action in the Digital Age
Lessons of a Very Common Social Practice: Pedestrian Logistics
By Franck Cochoy, Cédric Calvignac
English

In this paper the authors examine a new kind of “subject” of action, the cluster, by means of a method which, although not new, is used too seldom: quantitative observation. By “cluster” they mean the hybrid entity formed by the composite assemblage of a person and his/her “accessories”. To study clusters thus defined, they set out by analysing a very mundanesocial practice: the pedestrian logistics, that is, the way in which people and their bags move around together in the urban space. After presenting the quantitative observation approach upon which their study rests, the authors use their first findings to characterize the action logics underpinning these entities. These action logics take the form of interaction between various clusters, and within each cluster. To conclude, the potential of this type of approach and of the attention paid to such entities is highlighted. The authors argue that they serve to reveal the more general implications of micro-social interactions and, above all, to account for the compound subjects driving contemporary action – which are far more than the subjects and objects that were separated and contrasted for far too long in the past.

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