Unbuttoning normalcy - on cosmopolitical events.

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Critical Theory

Background:

• Social research often normalizes collective action by limiting perspectives.
• A critical approach requires questioning established social realities and including diverse actors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the concept of "cosmopolitical events" as a framework for critical social science.
• To analyze the Fukushima nuclear plant events as a case study of a cosmopolitical event.
• To explore how such events challenge and reshape social order and research agendas.

Main Methods:

• Sociological analysis of the Fukushima nuclear plant events.
• Conceptualizing Fukushima as a "cosmopolitical event" to understand its broader implications.
• Examining the disruption of "normal" social life and the normalization of social relations.

Main Results:

• Cosmopolitical events, like Fukushima, disrupt taken-for-granted social orders.
• Analyzing Fukushima reveals complex processes in normalizing social relations.
• The event necessitates extending the sociological imagination to include the non-human.

Conclusions:

• Viewing events like Fukushima as cosmopolitical expands critical social science.
• This approach enriches research by including marginalized or excluded perspectives.
• It broadens conceptual space to account for the social and political relevance of the non-human.