Sociomaterial actors in political moral conflict
Publication Date
2-21-2025
Document Type
Contribution to a Book
Publication Title
The Handbook of Social and Political Conflict
DOI
10.1002/9781119895534.ch18
First Page
201
Last Page
209
Abstract
Moral conflict theory research represents four decades of inquiry into understanding and managing intractable conflicts. In recent years, to generate more constructive outcomes for intractable conflict, scholars have called for a sociomaterial turn in moral conflict theory research that considers the complex networks of human (social) and nonhuman (material) actors (e.g., texts, objects, and places) that mobilize moral orders and (inter)action (Cole & Littlejohn, 2018). This chapter expands emerging sociomaterial conflict research to account for the complexities of political moral conflict. Utilizing a case study of political intractability related to gun ownership and regulation (i.e., gun control) in the United States, we offer new theoretical and practical insights about how moral assumptions operate covertly in conflict and how uncovering similarities and differences among these assumptions can transform conflicts.
Keywords
Actor-network theory, Agency, Black-boxing, Dialogue, Gun control, Intractable conflict, Moral conflict theory, Moral mediation, Objects, Transcendent communication
Department
Communication Studies
Recommended Citation
Kristen L. Cole and Spencer D. Choate. "Sociomaterial actors in political moral conflict" The Handbook of Social and Political Conflict (2025): 201-209. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119895534.ch18
