SOCI 325: Sociology of Science

Agenda

Actor–network theory (ANT)

  1. Administrative
  2. Poster peer feedback session
  3. Actor–network theory:
    overview and key points
  4. Discussion

Administrative

A plot labeled 'Distribution of scores' with a bell-shaped curve. The curve spikes heavily at 0.0 and ranges from -10 to 10. It is skewed to the right, indicating more values above zero than below.

Midterm peer evaluation

  • Each of you should have received an email this weekend with the results of the group peer evalutaion
  • The scores range from
    –10% to 10%
  • The most common score is 0.0%, which means your whole group is going great.

Poster peer feedback

Each group member will have a chance to:

  • Describe their topic
  • Outline their main arguments/theses
  • Show in-progress work (if they have it)
  • Ask questions about interpretation, techniques, etc.

General advice:

  • Posters should focus on making a sociological argument; historical details only as needed
  • Focus on criteria from the rubric—this is what your classmates will be using to evaluate the posters
  • Don’t try to say too much

Animation of Catherine O'hara saying 'when one of us shines, all of us shine' (subtitled)

ANT:
overview & key points

Actor network theory (ANT)

a close-up color photograph of a black ant on a just-opening yellow flower bud. The background is stark black.

Overview of ANT

  • ANT was a new theoretical approach to studying science, emerging in the early 1980s.
  • Notable proponents/developers of ANT: Bruno Latour; Michel Callon; John Law
  • Broadly, ANT takes issue with the Modern idea that culture and nature are inherently distinct.
  • According to ANT, objects do not need to be seen in relation to humans to have meaning.
  • Since its introduction, ANT has expanded beyond STS and is used in a wide array of sociological research.

ANT and the Strong Programme

“Supersymmetric”

  • ANT applies the principle of symmetry from Bloor’s Strong Programme in a much more fundamental way.
  • Rather than just treatinng 'true' and 'false' ideas as equally founded on social processes, ANT argues that the social and the material result from the same (relational) processes.
  • ANT’s symmetry can be seen either as a generalization or a refutation of the Strong Programme.

The role of scientists in society

  • ANT criticizes the Strong Programme for giving sociologists a monopoly on theories of social processes.

The role of non-humans in science

  • ANT criticizes the Strong Programme for giving humans a monopoly on reality, restricting the ability of non-humans to affect our understanding of them.

Actor networks

Alliance

  • For ANT, technoscientific endeavors are processes of creating and strengthening networks of alliance.
  • Networks (and therefore everything) are made up of (human and non-human) actants, objects with interests that cause them to act.

Translation

  • Alliances rely on translation.
  • Translation frames the interests of actors so that they are working toward the same goal.
    E.g. attachment of larvae in Callon (1984)

Power

  • Translation and alliance lead to power relations.
  • Distinct translations/frames can lead to distinct actions.

Animation of six characters in different brightly colored full-body outfits placing their hands in the center of a circle (power rangers). A spark of energy seems to shoot from their bodies to the point where their hands meet

Actor network theory

A network diagram showing stylized icons of seven actants: Three scientists, Ocean currents, Scallop larvae, Scientific colleagues, Pecten Maximus, and Scallop fishers. All of the relations except those connecting to the scientists and the relation between the scallop larvae and the pecten maximus are faded.

Epistemology in ANT

Not purely social-constructivist

  • ANT emphasizes that reality is not centered on humans.
  • The networks that define the reality of entities can exist far from human influence.

Relational materialism

  • Objects’ reality is dependent on their relations.
  • Reality is in the relationships between entities.
  • “A little bit of constructivism takes you far away from realism; a complete constructivism brings you back to it.”
    —Bruno Latour

Epistemology in ANT

What makes an atom more real than a ghost is not that the former exists as a real state of affairs and the latter only in our minds. Instead, what makes the atom more real is that it has more allies, including allies stretching well beyond the human realm. Experiments testify to the atom’s existence; instruments stabilize it and make it indirectly visible; the scientific profession is transformed by it; generations of children learn about atoms and pass the word along; Brownian motion shows that particles of water are moved by atoms…. By contrast, the ghost has only a paltry number of allies bearing witness to its reality, such as hysterical children and a few old legends. But it might also happen that the atom’s allies desert it one day too.

Harman, Graham. 2009. Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour
and Metaphysics. Anamnesis. Prahran, Vic.: Re.press.
pp. 110–11

Image credit

Animation of Catherine O'hara saying 'when one of us shines, all of us shine' (subtitled)

Animation from Schitt's Creek (2015), via tenor

a close-up color photograph of a black ant on a just-opening yellow flower bud. The background is stark black.

Photo by Jason Bolonski on Flickr

Animation of six characters in different brightly colored full-body outfits placing their hands in the center of a circle (power rangers). A spark of energy seems to shoot from their bodies to the point where their hands meet

Power Rangers animation from via tenor

A network diagram showing stylized icons of seven actants: Three scientists, Ocean currents, Scallop larvae, Scientific colleagues, Pecten Maximus, and Scallop fishers. All of the relations except those connecting to the scientists and the relation between the scallop larvae and the pecten maximus are faded.

Source images from Noun Project
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

By building a network around the frame of “attachment of larvae” the three scientists were able to build a network of alliance in which they were the most powerful actor They did this by excluding relations within other networks

Link to Hacking