Sociomaterial Practices in Medical Work: An Ethnography in the Operating Room

This book presents a sociomaterial perspective on work and organizational practices within the operating room. Looking at medical work from a sociological perspective and drawing on ethnographic observations conducted in a hospital’s operating block, this book analyses the entanglements of humans and technologies in the execution of everyday activities. It highlights how the sociomateriality of work and organizational practices manifests in the encounters between operators and material artifacts and inthe way objects and technologies participate in processes and practices of organizational communication. Objects and technologies are also shaped by these very practices, giving rise to a recursive relationship wherein technology, communication, and organizing are intertwined.

A sociomaterial understanding of organizational and working practices explains the role of objects and technologies in the generation and enactment of professional knowledge, while questioning how power materializes through the interaction of humans and technical objects. This book will be of great interest to scholars, students, and practitioners interested in how sociomaterial perspectives can inform organization studies and reshape our understanding of the intricate relationships between humans and technologies in healthcare settings.

Attila Bruni is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the Trento University, Italy, where he teaches Sociology of Organizations and Sociology of Technological Phenomena, and coordinates the Master degree in Organization, Society and Technology (OST).