The Power of Small Gestures: On the Cultural Technique of Service
Krajewski M (2013)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2013
Journal
Book Volume: 30
Pages Range: 94-109
Journal Issue: 6
Abstract
Focusing on a subject the author has extensively engaged with over the years (most notably in his 2010 study Der Diener), the article develops the notion of service as a cultural technique, and the media-theoretical figure of the servant as its servomechanism. The analysis follows three distinct scenarios that highlight, via different channels of perception (acoustic, optic and haptic), the interplay between corporeal practices and media objects in the production of specific cultural effects. In each of the examples chosen, service implies highly regulated networks of recursive operational chains that regulate in their turn the production and distribution of power and knowledge. Thus, Krajewski argues, despite, or rather, precisely because of their apparent marginality and invisibility, the ‘small gestures’ of service join the ranks of already established, elementary symbolic techniques such as reading or writing. © 2013, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.
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Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Krajewski, M. (2013). The Power of Small Gestures: On the Cultural Technique of Service. Theory Culture & Society, 30(6), 94-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276413488961
MLA:
Krajewski, Markus. "The Power of Small Gestures: On the Cultural Technique of Service." Theory Culture & Society 30.6 (2013): 94-109.
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