The production of space and the exploitation of attention: a view from/of poststructuralism

Abstract

The article analyzes the possibilities of applying the methodology of poststructuralism in modern sociology, in particular in relation to the problems of space production and the exploitation of attention. The heuristic potential of poststructuralism for sociology is investigated, where the methodology of deconstruction is especially studied. The problem of space production by means of attention exploitation is analyzed in the context of Gilles Deleuze's concepts. It is emphasized that the central Deleuzean concept of difference in correlation with a number of concepts (in particular, representation and repetition) provides important tools for understanding the nature of production and reproduction of space, on the one hand, and the procedurality of attention as an object of exploitation, on the other. Poststructuralist metaphors of systematicity (tree and rhizome) are being rethought from the sociological perspective not as mutually exclusive, but as typologically compatible. Deleuze's distinction between nomadic and structural modes of perception is analyzed. The attention is focused on the phenomenon of a dividuum («divided») from the point of view of the production of acts of perception and acts of attention. In addition, an important aspect is the problem of production of chronological as structurally comparable with production of spatial. The preconceptions isolated from the Deleuzean theoretical rhizome are used by the authors in relation to the problems of mass culture in the explications of Gilles Lipovetsky and Paul Virilio. Attention is investigated as a fundamental substratum for the production of space(s) in a society of communicative / cognitive capitalism, which is revealed through examples of problems of visual perception, practices of cultural consumption, language, etc. A conclusion is made about the possibilities and limitations of studying the processes of space production and the role of attention in this process of exploitation in sociology from the standpoint of post-structuralist theory.