Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society Reprint Edition

by Bruno Latour (Author)

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ISBN-10: 0674792912

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Science and technology have immense authority and influence in our society, yet their working remains little understood. The conventional perception of science in Western societies has been modified in recent years by the work of philosophers, sociologists and historians of science. In this book Bruno Latour brings together these different approaches to provide a lively and challenging analysis of science, demonstrating how social context and technical content are both essential to a proper understanding of scientific activity. Emphasizing that science can only be understood through its practice, the author examines science and technology in action: the role of scientific literature, the activities of laboratories, the institutional context of science in the modern world, and the means by which inventions and discoveries become accepted. From the study of scientific practice he develops an analysis of science as the building of networks. Throughout, Bruno Latour shows how a lively and realistic picture of science in action alters our conception of not only the natural sciences but also the social sciences and the sociology of knowledge in general.

This stimulating book, drawing on a wealth of examples from a wide range of scientific activities, will interest all philosophers, sociologists and historians of science, scientists and engineers, and students of the philosophy of social science and the sociology of knowledge.

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Editorial Reviews

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“This account of science as composed of drifting, recombining networks is presented with considerable charm and humour. There are many brief case histories to enliven the text, and the book works very well as a guide through scientific reasoning.”―Steven Yearly, Nature

“One cannot but be impressed by the scope of Latour's work…This is no mere bricolage, but a coherent and powerful framework for research. I predict that Science in Action will have an impact comparable to Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions both as a provocation to philosophers and as an inspiration to sociologists and historians of science.”―Nicholas Jardine, Times Literary Supplement

“Latour's Science in Action is a "must read" for all sociologists, not just because the sociology of science is a dynamic and growing subdiscipline, but more importantly because Latour's thesis challenges the notions that underlie sociologists' efforts to distinguish our field as a "science"…Latour's thesis is that science, including sociology, is collective action and that facticity is a consequence, not a cause, of collective action…An excellent and enjoyable introduction to the sociology of science.”―Joan H. Fujimura, Contemporary Sociology

“There is a wealth of material and some titillating insight into discoveries beginning with the framed race to find the structure of DNA―the double helix―and in Latour's hands, it becomes a true cliffhanger…This [book] will reward those who want to probe science and the modern world in depth.”―Kirkus Reviews

“This book argues that science is a social activity… The message is important… The book is convincing and informative.”―Kenneth P. Ruscio, Science Books and Films

“This book argues that science is a social activity… The message is important… The book is convincing and informative.”―Roy Porter

About the Author

Bruno Latour is Professor at Sciences Po, Paris, and the 2013 winner of the Ludvig Holberg International Memorial Prize.

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (October 15, 1988)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674792912
ISBN-13: 978-0674792913
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 13 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #702 in Books > Science & Math > Technology > History of Technology
- #1602 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Sociology
- #2037 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

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Vlad Krotov

detailed and tedious manner. Very hard to read

November 14, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The main point of the book is quite clear: the scientific processes is quite messy and social. The book is written in a very dense, detailed and tedious manner. Very hard to read.

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Kevin Shau

Terrible prose by a terrible writer

December 29, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Terrible prose by a terrible, overrated 'critical' theorist. I can honestly say that I would have never read this mind-numbingly useless text if not for a second-rate class where it was assigned reading. Bruno Latour is an overrated social constructivist trumpeting trivial insights. Any text about 'science in action' should be left to credible scientists not pseudo-scientific radical social constructivists. I cannot un-recommend this book enough. This text is complete garbage! That a grown man should earn a living writing or teaching such things is a mere caricature of the teaching profession. Bruno Latour is overrated, actor-network theory means nothing in the real world, and social constructivism easily runs the risk of becoming pseudo-scientific (which it often overtly does).

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Interesting, but Nearly Unreadable & Theory-Heavy

July 7, 2017

Format: Paperback

In "Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society", Bruno Latour works to offer a methodology for understanding the history of science, though he does not begin with the conclusion. Latour writes, “Our entry into science and technology will be through the back door of science in the making, not through the more grandiose entrance of ready made science” (pg. 4). To this end, he writes, “I simply wish to summarize their method and to sketch the ground that, sometimes unwittingly, they all have in common. In doing so I wish to help overcome two of the limitations of ‘science, technology and society’ studies that appear to me to thwart their impact, that is their organisation by discipline and by object” (pg. 16). Therefore, he writes, “We understand now why looking at earlier stages in the construction of facts and machines is more rewarding than remaining with the final stages. Depending on the type of modalities, people will be made to go along completely different paths” (pg. 25).
For his project, Latour forwards seven rules for studying science in action. Latour summarizes his first principle, writing, “The construction of facts and machines is a collective process” (pg. 29). His second rule asks followers “to look for the intrinsic qualities of any given statement but to look instead for all the transformations it undergoes later in other hands. This rule is the consequence of what I called our first principle: the fate of facts and machines is in the hands of later users” (pg. 59). Scientific instruments are necessary to Latour’s third rule, so he defines them more broadly than most. Latour writes, “An instrument, in this definition, is not every set-up which ends with a little window that allows someone to take a reading. A thermometer, a watch, a Geiger counter, all provide readings but are not considered as instruments as long as these readings are not used as the final layer of technical papers” (pg. 68). This leads to his third rule: “since the settlement of a controversy is the cause of Nature’s representation not the consequence, we can never use the outcome – Nature – to explain how and why a controversy has been settled” (pg. 99).
Latour continues, “Our fourth rule of method thus reads exactly like the third – the word ‘Society’ replacing the word ‘Nature’ – and then fuses the two together: since the settlement of a controversy is the cause of Society’s stability, we cannot use Society to explain how and why a controversy has been settled. We should consider symmetrically the efforts to enrol and control human and non-human resources” (pg. 144). Of his fifth rule of method, Latour writes, “We should be as undecided as the various actors we follow as to what technoscience is made of: to do so, every time an inside/outside division is built, we should follow the two sides simultaneously, making up a list, no matter how long and heterogeneous, of all those who do the work” (pg. 176). Of his sixth rule, he writes, “When faced with an accusation of irrationality, or simply with beliefs in something, we will never believe that people believe in things or are irrational, we will never look for which rule of logic has been broken, we will simply consider the angle, direction, movement and scale of the observer’s displacement” (pg. 213). Finally, Latour’s seventh rule offers a more fixed approach to studies of science. He writes, “What I propose, here, as a seventh rule of method, is in effect a moratorium on cognitive explanations of science and technology! I’d be tempted to propose a ten-year moratorium. If those who believe in miracles were so sure of their position, they would accept the challenge” (pg. 247).

Comment

September 13, 2014

Format: Paperback

One of the most helpful reads in history that I've read. This is a book that you KEEP, read and reread for years to come. The process of scientific evaluation is highly regarded for many reasons and this book enables you to participate in this exploration. I highly recommend.

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Frank T. Manheim

A keen but "disinterested" observer more affordable by France than the U.S.?

October 15, 2009

Format: Paperback

One can sympathize with the engineer who wanted to throw the Latour's book at the wall. "Engineers do, while scientists discover and write". Latour is not about coming to firm conclusions, identifying and clarifying problems, and providing cogent summaries of scientists' activities. One could perhaps describe him in terms of a hypothetical analogy involving a disinterested sportscaster at a university. The sportscaster does not identify with or root for a given team. He doesn't provide statistics on comparative performance of players. Rather, he makes eclectic observations about sports, like comparing the weight range for football players with that of championship tennis players; racial breakdowns by sport, critical skills involved in different sports, characterizing audiences and fans of each sport, and perhaps tracing typical histories of players as they rise to high achievement in their sports.

Latour is an observer (and also a writer) of sophistication. However, France can perhaps afford his kind of detached exploration better at the present time than can the U.S. We have current crises that are less serious in France. These include domestic conflict over global climate change policy; and lack of communication between interest groups, and consequences of longstanding avoidance of political policy problems like systems for sustainable support of major social services. My my own preference is that our scientific and conceptual talent move more from the Latour model to that of the engineer!

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ingonyama

extremely though-provoking

February 6, 2009

Format: Paperback

In 20 years in higher ed. in the social sciences, I am hard pressed to think of a book that immediately and permanently transformed the way I understand the world more than this one. It opens up hundreds of questions and is a delight to read. Probably the best starting point for a newcomer to Latour's ouevre, too.

8 people found this helpful

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Nick Hirsch

A Deeply Engaging Read

October 19, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Bruno Latour provides an excellent framework for understanding the production of scientific knowledge. His "black box" theory of the development of facts is a useful metaphor which can be extended beyond science studies into the other arenas of intellectual discourse and fact-making. Anyone interested in the social construction of knowledge should give this volume a close read.

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Amazon Customer

An Engineer's Opinion...

October 10, 2000

Format: Paperback

I'm an electrical and electronics engineer, working for a governmental R&D Institution. I also study on Science and Technology Policy Studies for an M.S. degree. I found the book quite useful, especially in its aspect of analyzing the scientist and engineer in his own time, his own context, his own psychology... It is a well organized, fluent, clear book. It may not be a complete guide or a definitive study, but it is a good point to start. Recommended...

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Most recent customer reviews

Pete B

Complete garbage.

meh required reading for school din't care for it.
Complete garbage.

Published on May 16, 2015

Amazon Customer

One Star

Just a whole lot of nopes for this book

Published on December 18, 2014

Combined Text

myopic perspective

Cover to cover, this book has flaws. A personal take on the area of scientific arguments, I feel that many of the statements are speculative or misjudged.Read more

Published on October 13, 2011

sammy

a physicist's perspective

The introduction was so promising, but the first chapter made me want to hurl the book at the wall (I didn't because I was on a plane, and that probably violates some security...Read more

Published on January 23, 2009

E. R.

Trivial where not incorrect

Latour again demonstrates trivial insights and egregious errors. He simply does not know his subject (allegedly science) well enough - he makes conceptual and factual blunders.Read more

Published on March 3, 2000

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