SOCIOLOGY SALVATION PROJECT IN ACTORNETWORK THEORY BY B. LATOUR

Abstract

The actor network theory (ANT) developed by the French sociologist Bruno Latour holds an exceptional position as it argues against almost all classical and modern sociological approaches. It may appear that ANT aims to deconstruct the sociological knowledge by dismissing such notions as “society” or “social”. However, the detailed examination results in opposite conclusions. The criticism of the representatives o f t he traditional sociology against ANT does not explain the world we live in. Latour acts as someone who tries to save sociology as a science; and ANT is a step towards reviving the notion of “the social” in its original meaning. Latour highlights that «reassembling the social» is the resumption of the work of the sociologists of the social that was stopped; he remarks that the ANT`s challenge is not to prove the invalidity of the classical sociological theories. The sociology salvation project proposed by ANT embraces the basic problems that the traditional sociology faces and puts forward ways of solution.