Sociological Approaches to Outer Space

This chapter examines sociological approaches to outer space asking which subfields of sociology have taken outer space as an object of inquiry, what specific aspects and units of analysis have been examined, which types of methodological and theoretical approaches have been incorporated in these studies, and what sorts of interventions inside and outside the discipline these studies have enabled. It identifies and characterises three major lines of inquiry to date and outline future research agendas in the discipline regarding outer space and some challenges for sociologists’ role in this area of study.