DeLanda Manuel DeLanda 
New Philosophy of Society [PDF ebook] 
Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity

In A New Philosophy of Society Manuel De Landa offers a fascinating look at how the contemporary world is characterized by an extraordinary social complexity. Since most social entities, from small communities to large nation-states would disappear altogether if our cognitive abilities ceased to exist, De Landa proposes a novel approach to social ontology that asserts the autonomy of social entities from the conceptions we have of them. He argues that Gilles Deleuze’s theory of assemblages provides a framework in which sociologists and geographers studying social networks and regions can properly locate their work and fully elucidate the connections between them. Indeed, assemblage theory, as De Landa argues, can be used to model any community, from interpersonal networks and institutional organizations, to central governments, cities and nation states.