Material deprivation affects mental health recovery assemblages: A micropolitical inquiry into sociomaterial inequalities

Abstract

This article examines the sociomaterial inequalities encountered by young adults experiencing distress at the micro level with a focus on how various forms of material deprivation become embedded within recovery assemblages. Drawing on the Deleuzian–Guattarian new materialist approach, we define assemblages as human and nonhuman networks that connect material and immaterial elements together. In these assemblages, matter is considered to have ‘agentic’ capacity, and thus, agency is attributed, in addition to human actors, to nonhuman elements. By using interview data, our analysis identifies three distinct recovery assemblages arising from different forms of material deprivation in the recovery processes of young adults. The first assemblage relates to a lack of safe recovery environments, the second involves insufficient financial resources, and the third reflects the loss of bodily strength and diminished capacity for everyday functioning. Assemblages marked by material deprivation can become relatively permanent and territorialized, limiting the agency of young adults experiencing distress. However, these assemblages are also subject to destabilization and deterritorialization through micropolitical actions. We demonstrate how young adults and their family members can disrupt these assemblages and influence material deprivation. According to the new materialist perspective, small acts can ignite significant change, offering the potential to challenge sociomaterial inequalities on a broader scale.