Bruno Latour and relational sociology

Christian Papilloud

pp. 183-197

in: François Dépelteau (ed), The Palgrave handbook of relational sociology, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

With his concept of association, Bruno Latour founds his symmetry principle in a relativistic and pluralist sociological conception of society as networked actors. Social reality is a mixture of heterogeneous humans and non-humans, and their associations lead to a collectivity. The unpredictability of associations is directly connected with the heterogeneity of the associated elements and the associations themselves. Associations are not necessarily planned, even if the actors/actants act strategically. Because associations are unforeseeable, new combinations of associations can occur at any time unexpectedly; and consequently, they lead to inequality between constituted associations, in other words, to asymmetries. Associations are at the heart of the networks that represent society as a relational and movable reality.

Cited authors

Latour Bruno