In depth exploration of the widespread influence of new materialism in the fields of humanities and social sciences, tracing its theoretical origins and development. At the beginning of the 20th century, the ideas of Husserl and Heidegger laid the foundation for the new materialism. In the 1990s, Delanda and Braidotti first proposed the concept of new materialism, followed by scholars such as Brown, Bennett, Ballard, Latour, Hode, and Foucault proposing a series of related terms and theories. Schiffran divided the development of new materialism into two stages: from an early focus on the essence of things to a discussion of the relationship between things and non things. Bennett's' In and Out: Recording Whitman 'represents an important achievement of the second stage, focusing on subjectivity in the material world.

Ontology of Things: Haman's Object oriented Ontology

Lemke's associated materialism is based on a critical interpretation of Harman's object-oriented ontology, Bennett's energetic materialism, and Ballard's active realism. Harman's object-oriented ontology belongs to speculative realism, advocating that things have attributes independent of human cognition, and possess unknowability and mystery. Starting from Heidegger's "theory of physics", Harman proposed the concepts of the revocability and non relatedness of things, believing that the aesthetic expression of things can better reveal their essence than objective science. Harman's object oriented literary criticism emphasizes the tension between literary objects, author intentions, and reader interpretations, advocating for non relational research, which is similar to the New Criticism theory. However, Lemke pointed out that Harman's theory has limitations, as the excessive pursuit of non relatedness leads to theoretical abstraction and leads literature towards aesthetics, weakening the power of political criticism. Harman's object-oriented ontology has had a significant impact on the literary criticism of new materialism, but it also faces challenges of theoretical exclusivity and limitations.

The Matter of Vitality Theory: Bennett's Materialism of Vitality

Bennett's Vitality Materialism emphasizes the "passion" and "vitality" of things, incorporating them into the political process and using "material power" to explain the "internal interaction" between inanimate entities and humans, believing that inanimate entities produce effects through coordinated movement with other material entities. She focuses on the agency of things and shifts the new materialism from abstract concepts to social agency and proactivity. Bennett transcended Haman's object-oriented ontology by replacing object with thing, breaking the traditional opposition between object and subject, focusing on the material vitality of human and non-human beings, and possessing social and political participation consciousness and practical significance. Her theory was influenced by Latour's actor network theory, replacing actors with action elements and overturning the anthropocentric tradition in traditional political science.

The Matter of Relevance Theory: From Active Realism to Relevance Materialism

Deeply explored Ballard's active realism, which is a theory similar to Foucault's viewpoint, emphasizing the fluidity of matter and practical effects. Ballard believed that matter is not a static existence, but a dynamic generative process that generates agency through internal interaction. Based on quantum mechanics and diffraction theory, she proposed that objects do not have a fixed essence, but rather are generated through internal linkage. Lemke pointed out that Ballard's active realism differs theoretically from Harman's object-oriented ontology and Bennett's concept of energetic things, but at the same time inherits their emphasis on material power.

The Literary Criticism Inspiration of 'The Governance of Things'

The chapter on literary criticism inspiration in 'The Governance of Things' delves into the evolution of the new materialist theory and its impact on literary criticism. Harman's object-oriented ontology emphasizes the essential characteristics of things and provides a theoretical basis for the material agency ability in literary criticism. Bennett's energetic materialism focuses on the dynamic processes and agency of matter, moving towards associationism. Ballard's active realism further developed the understanding of relatedness and laid the foundation for relatedness materialism. Lemke combined Foucault's theory of material governance and the STS method to propose the concept of relational materialism, which affirms correlation while rejecting absolute correlation, enriching the concept of correlation.