Inhuman/Nonhuman/Human: Actor-Network Theory and the Prospects for a Nondualistic and Symmetrical Perspective on Nature and Society

Abstract

Recently human geographers and sociologists have begun to focus on the prospects for theories without dualisms. As a result of research on technology, animals, and the environment, it has become evident that a human-centred perspective, which continually positions humans as the only significant actors, cannot adequately take into account the various nonhumans which make up our world and upon which we depend. In large part the human-centredness of much social science derives from a sharp divide, a dualism, between nature and society and between the work of natural and human scientists. In this paper I consider one attempt to transgress this divide and assess the prospects for theories of this kind. The focus here is upon actor-network theory (ANT), an approach developed by Michel Callon, Bruno Latour, and John Law within social studies of science. I first outline the social studies which form the background to the development of ANT and then go on to elaborate the main contours of the approach, with particular emphasis on its transgression of the nature—society distinction. I conclude with a critical assessment of its strengths and weaknesses and attempt to show how it might be usefully combined with other, more traditional, social scientific concerns.