Title Reassembling the social : an introduction to actor-network-theory / Bruno Latour

Published Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005

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Description 1 online resource (x, 301 pages) : illustrations Series Clarendon lectures in management studies Clarendon lectures in management studies. Contents Introduction: How to resume the task of tracing associations -- pt. 1. How to deploy controversies about the social world. Learning to feed from controversies ; First source of uncertainty : no group, only group formation ; Second source of uncertainty : action is overtaken ; Third source of uncertainty : objects too have agency ; Fourth source of uncertainty : matters of fact vs. matters of concern ; Fifth source of uncertainty : writing down risky accounts ; On the difficulty of being an ANT : an interlude in form of a dialog -- pt. 2. How to render associations traceable again. Why is it so difficult to trace the social? ; How to keep the social flat ; First move : localizing the global ; Second move : redistributing the local ; Third move : connecting sites ; Conclusion: From society to collective -- can the social be reassembled? Summary Reassembling the Social is a fundamental challenge from one of the world's leading social theorists to how we understand society and the 'social'. Bruno Latour's contention is that the word 'social' as used by Social Scientists has become laden with assumptions to the point where it has become a misnomer. When the adjective is applied to a phenomenon, it is used to indicate a stabilized state of affairs, a bundle of ties that in due course may be used to account for another phenomenon. Latour also finds the word used as if it described a type of material, in a comparable way to an adjective such as 'wooden' or 'steely'. Rather than simply indicating what is already assembled together, it is now used in a way that makes assumptions about the nature of what is assembled. It has become a word that designates two distinct things: a process of assembling: and a type of material, distinct from others. Latour shows why 'the social' cannot be thought of as a kind of material or domain, and disputes attempts to provide a 'social explanation' of other states of affairs. While these attempts have been productive (and probably necessary) in the past, the very success of the social sciences mean that they are largely no longer so. At the present stage it is no longer possible to inspect the precise constituents entering the social domain. Latour returns to the original meaning of 'the social' to redefine the notion and allow it to trace connections again. It will then be possible to resume the traditional goal of the social sciences, but using more refined tools. Drawing on his extensive work examining the 'assemblages' of nature, Latour finds it necessary to scrutinize thoroughly the exact content of what is assembled under the umbrella of Society. This approach, a 'sociology of associations' has become known as Actor-Network-Theory, and this book is an essential introduction both for those seeking to understand Actor-Network-Theory, or the ideas of one of its most influential proponents Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-280) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Actor-network theory. Sociology -- Philosophy. Social sciences -- Philosophy. Social groups. Social participation. Social structure. Organizational behavior. Social sciences. Sociology. Social Sciences Sociology Social Participation social structure. social sciences. sociology. social groups. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Negotiating. FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS -- Interpersonal Relations. Sociology Social sciences Actor-network theory Organizational behavior Social groups Social participation Social sciences -- Philosophy Social structure Sociology -- Philosophy Soziales Netzwerk Akteur Gruppe Sozialstruktur Organisationsverhalten Actor-Network-Theory Organisationstheorie Soziologische Theorie Theorieën. Sociologie. Actor-network theorie (ANT) Form Electronic book ISBN 9780191531262 019153126X 9781280905162 1280905166 9780199256044 0199256047 9786610905164 6610905169 9780191622892 0191622893 1435609980 9781435609983

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