Latour and his "technologist": things, objects and technology in actor-network theory

Abstract

The article seeks to draw a distinction between sociology of objects and sociology of things. In order to do this author conducts an investigation on Bruno Latour's Where Are The Missing Masses: The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artifacts multiple text as the key work on technology in actor-network theory. Investigation unravels two problems regarding the text. First, theoretical problem of missing masses of modern societies. Second, the problem of style of matters of concern as a style of writing on things. It is concluded that there are two in-built authors in the inquired multiple text - «Latour» and «technologist». These authors elaborate two different conception of technology and give two different answers to the question «Where are the missing masses?» Mistaken identity of «technologist» for Latour and a bias against the style of self-contradictory texts are main obstacles on the way to see the difference between sociology of objects and sociology of things.