scholarly journals Animal Cultures, Subjectivity, and Knowledge: Symmetrical Reflections beyond the Great Divide

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richie Nimmo
Keyword(s):  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Human Uniqueness ◽  
Human Social Life

Abstract This article reflects upon the implications for sociology of the steady accumulation of evidence in the sciences of animal behavior pointing to the existence of culture among nonhuman animals. With a particular focus on primatology, it explores how these developments challenge the notions of “culture” that continue to inform the study of human social life. The article argues that this growing challenge to the assumption of human uniqueness that has historically provided the core rationale for sociology cannot be ignored. The paper thus contributes to the overdue work of articulating a constructive response by tracing the issues involved in the encounter between these knowledges. Theoretical currents from science studies and actor-network theory are drawn upon in order to propose a reflexive and symmetrical realignment of this encounter, with significant implications for our understandings of human and animal being and subjectivity.

Sociologiens performativitet - afvikling af det dårlige samfund?

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-92
Author(s):  
Anders Blok
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Symbolic Products ◽  
Critical Moments

Anders Blok: The Performativity of Sociology – Dismantling the Poor Society? This essay raises questions about the contribution of sociology to bettering or dismantling its always less-than-satisfactory society. What happens if we stop viewing sociological theory and analysis as explanations of society, and start seeing them as additions to society, as narrative equipment for societal ac¬-tors? And what consequences does such a performative perspective imply for the critical capacity of sociology? Drawing inspiration from actor-network theory (ANT), this essay suggests that the mundane symbolic products of so¬cio¬logy are co-constitutive for the continual (re)creation of “society“. Texts, concepts, statistics, and analyses contribute to collecting and effectuating social groups. Interesting sociology gains attention from various publics by participating in critical dialogues. Rather than cool-headed distance, a critical proximity is called for, with sociologists engaging the critical moments of social life, while developing a “sociology of criticism“ capable of respecting the critical capacities of social co-actors. Criticism is a practical endeavour, with various means of intervention available. This performative perspective suggests two important societal narratives for future sociological engagement are suggested: cosmopolitization of society and democratization of expertise.

scholarly journals Curating actor-network theory: testing object-oriented sociology in the Science Museum

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Waller
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Object A ◽  
Science Exhibitions ◽  
Practice Of Science

Across different traditions of social research, the study of science exhibitions has often taken the form of an ‘object-oriented’ inquiry. In this tradition, actor-network theory (ANT) has focused on how the processes of exhibiting objects mediate relations between science and society. Although ANT has not developed as a theory of curating, it nonetheless contributes to revaluing the work performed by curators in relation to the practice of science. This article describes an ethnographic engagement with a curatorial experiment in a science museum which staged a ‘multi-viewpoint’ exhibition of an object. A display of an object ‘in process’, I take the opportunity of this curatorial experiment to explore analogies drawn in ANT studies between museums and laboratories in attending to the ways that curatorial practices mediate science. I ask whether, and to what extent, ANT can account for curating as a material practice that not only participates in domesticating objects for science but also in problematizing, multiplying and redistributing relations between objects and the social.Key words: actor-network theory, sociology, science studies, curating, objects.

scholarly journals Marxist morphologies

Focaal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (82) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Murawski
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Economic Base ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Material World ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Relationship

This article critiques assumptions made by urban anthropologists and other scholars of cities, focusing on currently fashionable theories of infrastructure, materiality, and complexity. It problematizes how scholarship informed by actor-network theory, assemblage theory and other varieties of (post)postmodernism uses morphological optics and metaphors to represent social life, the material world, and existence itself as necessarily “flat,” “complex” or “fuzzy.” As a corrective, it proposes reorienting our social morphologies with reference to a Marxist notion of infrastructure, founded on a dynamic understanding of the relationship between determining economic base and determined superstructure. It constructs its theoretical edifice with reference to the remaking of post-1945 Warsaw as a socialist city through property expropriation and monumental architectural and planning works, and post-1989 attempts to unmake its socialist character through property reprivatization and unplanning.

STRUCTURING A SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROCESS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF ACTOR NETWORK THEORY

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huda Ibrahim ◽  
Hasmiah Kasimin
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Technology Transfer Process

An effi cient and effective information technology transfer from developed countries to Malaysia is an important issue as a prerequisite to support the ICT needs of the country to become not only a ICT user but also a ICT producer. One of the factors that infl uences successful information technology transfer is managing the process of how technology transfer occurs in one environment. It involves managing interaction between all parties concerned which requires an organized strategy and action toward accomplishing technology transfer objective in an integrated and effective mode. Using a conceptual framework based on the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this paper will analyse a successful information technology transfer process at a private company which is also a supplier of information technology (IT) products to the local market. This framework will explain how the company has come up with a successful technology transfer in a local environment. Our study shows that the company had given interest to its relationships with all the parties involved in the transfer process. The technology transfer programme and the strategy formulated take into account the characteristics of technology and all those involved.  

The Action of Christian Buildings on their Chinese Environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-121
Author(s):  
Michel Chambon
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Active Part ◽  
Architectural Style ◽  
Actor Network

This article explores the ways in which Christians are building churches in contemporary Nanping, China. At first glance, their architectural style appears simply neo-Gothic, but these buildings indeed enact a rich web of significances that acts upon local Christians and beyond. Building on Actor-Network Theory and exploring the multiple ties in which they are embedded, I argue that these buildings are agents acting in their own right, which take an active part in the process of making the presence of the Christian God tangible.

The model of an intelligent information security control system for supply chains based on the spatial concepts of the actor-network theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 94-106
Author(s):  
Y.M. Iskanderov ◽  
◽  
M.D. Pautov
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Information Security ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Spatial Concepts ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Information Security Management System ◽  
Security Control ◽  
Intelligent Information

Aim. The use of modern information technologies makes it possible to achieve a qualitatively new level of control in supply chains. In these conditions, ensuring information security is the most important task. The article shows the possibilities of applying the spatial concepts of the actor-network theory in the interests of forming a relevant intelligent information security management system for supply chains. Materials and methods. The article discusses a new approach based on the provisions of the actor-network theory, which makes it possible to form the structure of an intelligent information security control system for supply chains, consisting of three main functional blocks: technical, psychological and administrative. The incoming information security threats and the relevant system responses generated through the interaction of the system blocks were considered as enacting the three Law’s spaces: the space of regions, the space of networks and the space of fl uids. Results. It is shown that the stability of this system in the space of networks is a necessary condition for its successful functioning in the space of regions, and its resilience in the space of fl uids gained through the dynamic knowledge formation helps overcome the adverse effects of the fl uidity. The problems of the intentional / unintentional nature of information security threats, as well as the reactivity / proactivity of the corresponding responses of the intelligent information security management system for supply chains are investigated. Conclusions. The proposed approach showed the possibility of using such an interdisciplinary tool in the fi eld of information security as the concepts of the actor-network theory. The intelligent information security control system built on its basis ensures that almost all the features of solving information security problems in supply chains are taken into account.

Death Sentencing by Zoom: An Actor-Network Theory Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Heinsch ◽  
Tania Sourdin ◽  
Caragh Brosnan ◽  
Hannah Cootes
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Death Sentencing
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