Bruno Latour Hybrid Thoughts in a Hybrid World Key Sociologists Series

French sociologist and philosopher, Bruno Latour, is one of the most significant and creative thinkers of the last decades. Bruno Latour: Hybrid Thoughts in a Hybrid World is the first comprehensive and accessible English-language introduction to this multi-faceted work. The book focuses on core Latourian themes:

? contribution to science studies (STS ? Science, Technology & Society)

? philosophical approach to the rise and fall of modernity

? innovative thoughts on politics, nature, and ecology

? contribution to the branch of sociology known as ANT ? Actor-Network Theory.

With ANT, Latour has pioneered an approach to socio-cultural analysis built on the notion that social life arises in complex networks of actants ? people, things, ideas, norms, technologies, and so on ? influencing each other in dynamic ways. This book explores how Latour helps us make sense of the changing interrelations of science, technology, society, nature, and politics beyond modernity.

Preface 1. On the Trails of Brumo Latour’s Hybrid World 2. Anthropology of Science 3. Philosophy of Modernity 4. Political Ecology 5. Sociology of Associations 6. Conclusion: The Enlightenment Project of Bruno Latour 7. ‘We Would like to do a bit of Science Studies with you...’: An Interview with Bruno Latour

Anders Blok is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Copenhagen University. Combining an interest in STS with a background in socio-political theory and environmental sociology, his research focuses on the knowledge politics of science in global processes of environmental governance.

Torben Elgaard Jensen is an associate professor at the Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark. He has studied the organization of innovative activities for a number of years. He has conducted fieldwork during a major reorganization of municipal social services in Copenhagen (2001); He has investigated the daily work in an open plan office, which was designed to be particularly conducive to innovation (2008). Recently his interest in innovation has broadened to include questions about public engagement with technological innovation. His current research is on the practical ways in which companies construct knowledge about their users and on the current Danish efforts to develop a national innovation policy with an emphasis on so-called user-driven innovation. His favoured method is organizational ethnography. His key source of theoretical inspiration is Science and Technology Studies in general and material-semiotic analyses in particular. Recent publications include Identity in the Age of the New Economy: Life in Temporary and Scattered Work Practices, with Ann Westenholz (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004); ‘Future and Furniture: A study of a New Economy Firm’s Powers of Persuasion’, Science, Technology & Human Values, 33(1): 28-52 (2008); ‘Experimenting with Commodities and Gifts – the case of an office hotel’, Organization, 15 (2): 187-209 (2008).