Actor–network theory

Abstract: The book «Reassembling the Social» presents the fundamental thoughts of a leading social theorist on whata society is and what the word «social» actually means. According to the author «the social», understood asa separate domain or a kind of material, no longer contributes to the progress of social sciences. The notion of «the social» must be redefined from «assemblages» of nature. The presented sociology of associations isknown as actor-network theory to which this book serves as an essential guide, giving readers the opportunityto become acquainted with the thinking of its most influential proponent. The journal «Economic Sociology» publishes the Introduction to the book — «How to Resume the Taskof Tracing Associations» — which indicates the main differences between «sociology of associations» and«sociology of the social». Additionally, it focuses on key tasks and theoretical sources for the sociology ofassociations, including, most importantly; the sociology of Gabriel Tarde.

Abstract: This paper describes the theory of the actor-network, a body of theoretical and empirical writing which treats social relations, including power and organization, as network effects. The theory is distinctive because it insists that networks are materially heterogeneous and argues that society and organization would not exist if they were simply social. Agents, texts, devices, architectures are all generated in, form part of, and are essential to, the networks of the social. And in the first instance, all should be analyzed in the same terms. Accordingly, in this view, the task of sociology is to characterize the ways in which materials join together to generate themselves and reproduce institutional and organizational patterns in the networks of the social.