Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour (French: [latuʁ]; born 22 June 1947) is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist. He is especially known for his work in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). After teaching at the École des Mines de Paris (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation) from 1982 to 2006, he is now Professor at Sciences Po Paris (2006), where he is the scientific director of the Sciences Po Medialab. He has taught at Harvard University and is a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics. He is best known for his books We Have Never Been Modern (1991; English translation, 1993), Laboratory Life (with Steve Woolgar, 1979) and Science in Action (1987). Although his studies of scientific practice were at one time associated with social constructionist approaches to the philosophy of science, Latour has diverged significantly from such approaches. Latour is best known for withdrawing from the subjective/objective division and re-developing the approach to work in practice. Along with Michel Callon and John Law, Latour is one of the primary developers of actor–network theory (ANT), a constructionist approach influenced by the ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel, the generative semiotics of Greimas, and (more recently) the sociology of Durkheim's rival Gabriel Tarde. His monographs earned him a 10th place among most-cited book authors in the humanities and social sciences for the year 2007. Continue Reading »

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