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Sociology
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Outer Space and Internal Nature: Towards a Sociology of the Universe

Peter Dickens

University of Essex, p.dickens1{at}ntlworld.com

James S. Ormrod

University of Essex, jsormr{at}essex.ac.uk

This article represents one step towards developing a sociology of humanity's relationship with the cosmos. It adapts a central question of sociological concern — how humanity transforms itself as it interacts with nature — to ask questions about how human subjectivities are affected by the increasing `humanization' of the universe and by developments in contemporary cosmology. The argument presented is that some (wealthy) sectors of society are increasingly relating to the universe in a narcissistic fashion, the roots of which can be found in the Renaissance `universal man'. At the same time, marginalized and less powerful people continue to experience the universe as a subject dominating their Earthly lives, a relationship heightened by the use of the universe in military and surveillance operations as well as abstract cosmologies. Problems with both these relationships with the universe are highlighted.

Key Words: cosmology • narcissism • psychoanalysis • subjectivity • universe

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 4, 609-626 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038507078915
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