ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the interplay between sociology and translation studies, exploring which sociological tools and research methods can offer productive insights to translation analysis. Drawing on the concept of ‘cultural sociology’, it acknowledges how the social dimension of translation as a process and as a practice is deeply embedded into cultural discourses and practices. The chapter begins with a review of the most relevant studies in sociology of translation and their application of the main concepts theorised by sociologists Pierre Bourdieu, Bruno Latour, and Niklas Luhmann. It subsequently examines the benefits and pitfalls of combining both qualitative (e.g. translation interviews and analysis of correspondence and translation drafts) and quantitative (e.g. translation surveys, social network graphs) research methods in three areas of investigation, such as publishing and world literature, the history of translators, and online translation. The chapter concludes by advocating the need for a self-reflective approach that intertwines field and network analysis: the adoption of a methodological perspective informed by social network analysis could enable researchers to map empirical (trans)national social connections, whereas field analysis could simultaneously facilitate a better understanding of the role of translation in relation to broader power dynamics.
