> [!cite]- Metadata > 2025-04-28 05:02 > Status: > Tags: [[5 - Atlas/Tags/Theory]] [[Concept]] `Read Time: 54s` >The term was coined by Jyri Engestrom. It's an object creating a human connection between two people. It's that simple. It could be an object. An idea, a concept. It could be something physical. It could be a report. It could be a cartoon. Social object theory is a phenomenon where objects gain meaning through a process of reification. It has its origins in classical cognitive sociology. This theory says that humans are primarily motivated by the need for contact with others, and that social objects are the most powerful influence tool in and on our lives. So how do we make ordinary objects social? What culturally defines social objects? For Hegel the nature of objects is both grounded in what they are and in our acts of knowing that arrange them into types and give them properties. For instance, 'marriage' is a type of social object, because the nature of its existence for a society depends not just on physics but on social understandings of who can relate to whom and whether such relations are accepted. --- ### **References** [What is a social object?. and how do we create them? | by Sharing.Lab | Sharing.Lab | Medium](https://medium.com/we-research-and-expriment-with-how-the-sharing/what-is-a-social-object-8dd52df0f15c) [What is social object theory?](https://freshspectrum.com/what-is-social-object-theory/)