ABSTRACT
The development of the material-semiotic approaches is grounded in science and technology studies and in particular through the development of actor-network theory. Dispositifs hold an important place in these approaches, particularly in the form of devices that structure and align the participation of actors in networks. Each approach assigns very specific functions to dispositifs in social life: the Foucauldian approach assigns them a “dominant strategic function”; the material-semiotic approach assigns them an “intéressement” function to maintain socio-technical networks; and the sociology of engagement regimes views them as material supports that make it possible to assert a sense of justice anchored in reality (or, more broadly, to assert the purpose associated with the “engagement regime” in which the actors find themselves when they act). In the sociology of engagement regimes, one would examine the purposes that can be associated with a criminal hearing from the perspective of each of the regimes of engagement.
