A question of surfaces: rethinking spatiotemporality in social thought. Reflections inspired by Formula One motor racing

Nichols, Georgia (2024) A question of surfaces: rethinking spatiotemporality in social thought. Reflections inspired by Formula One motor racing. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

Borrowing from philosopher Levi Bryant, this thesis suggests that ‘attempts to think immanence’ offers a framework through which to explore developments in Western social theory. It posits that contemporary social theory has been shaped by a process of immanentisation, particularly influenced by early twentieth-century events. This process intensified into radical immanence since the 1970s, promoting an imaginary of the surface that overemphasizes novelty, flux, and volatility, leading to a distortion in social theory. This thesis thus seeks to unpack how poststructuralist immanence associated with Deleuze, Guattari, and Serres has shaped perspectives on space and time in sociology and human geography since the 1990s. The thesis considers the implications of this surface-inspired immanence in theories of space and time, particularly in the horizontal geographies and linear theories of globalization of the late 1980s and 1990s. Contrasting these with the nuanced temporal diversity approaches of Munn and Adam, the thesis critiques their inability to fully address how temporalities intertwine and co-constitute space. Arguing against the acceleration thesis and its legacy in the diversity literature, it challenges these theories’ predominant focus on speed and their interpretation of its role on experience in contemporary Western society. This thesis then examines topological thought in social theory and the study of spatiality in human geography and sociology in particular. It argues against the assumptions that topological thought is a ‘turn to the surface’ and a continuation of radical immanence. Instead, it positions topological thought as a reactive departure from this underlying trend. Examining the usefulness of topological thought, the thesis questions if its temporal limitations can be effectively addressed by integrating insights from the temporal diversity literature to develop a more comprehensive theory of spatiotemporality. Using a wide variety of secondary materials and fifteen in-depth interviews with personnel in the Formula One motor racing industry as an illustration, this thesis argues that we cannot simply combine the strengths of both literatures. Instead, it argues for a consideration of the accumulation of time in place, which builds on insights from both literatures, but ultimately moves beyond them.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information:	© 2024 Georgia Nichols
Library of Congress subject classification:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Sets:	Departments > Sociology
Supervisor:	Savage, Mike and Krause, Monika
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4843

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