The Temporal Uses of Moral Things: Manifesting, Anchoring and Conserving Caring Relations within the Sensorium

In this article we argue that menthol-containing products, like chewing gums, vapour rubs and mouthwashes, are used as moral things within everyday practices. They take on moral functions because of how their material qualities contribute to sensory experiences. Specifically, we focus on scenarios in which menthol products become associated with the moral work of care and highlight the temporal dimension of what people do with moral things. We review the literature on morality as a practical, everyday accomplishment and stress the embodied nature of caring practices to outline how care is bound up with sensory experience. We draw on rich qualitative data generated through creative methods, including film, photography and sketching, as part of object-elicitation interviews, focus groups, home tours and ‘pop-up stalls’. We develop three concepts regarding the function of moral things: manifesting, anchoring and conserving moral relations to describe how time, morality and the sensory are entwined.

Citation

Sociology, volume 55, issue 3, page 619-640

Publisher

SAGE Publications

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10034/624888

Type

article

Description

From SAGE Publishing via Jisc Publications Router
History: received 2019-09, accepted 2020-08, epub 2020-12-04
Publication status: Published
Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; FundRef: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000268; Grant(s): BB/M017702/1