Drawing the social : Jacob Levy Moreno, sociometry, and the rise of network diagrammatics

The following article discusses the
combination of graphical methods and network thought in early sociology.
It combines a case study of Jacob Levy Moreno’s sociometric work and
diagrammatic practice with media-theoretical thoughts about the
characteristics of network diagrams. These are understood as
inscriptions that perform both an act of drawing and writing at the same
time. Moreno’s mappings, as well as other early visual techniques of
social research, are understood along Michel Serres’ understanding of
the network diagram as a topological narration. Seen from the vantage
point of a history of knowledge, Moreno’s sociometric and performative
practices can not only be understood as a contribution to social network
thought, but as actual research on the cooperative character of human
interaction.