Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
.l . Habermas
i5 bv rto
sequcnce . However, the dcvclopment ol'social intcsru1l,rtl
nleans svnorlvmous w.rth a sequential decrease in social exploitation. l0 Llnscrewing the big
l'rom an cv,olutionary perspective, the tvpe ol'social intesratiorr
situations' is
Leviathan: how actors
that is tied to thc kinship syslem and that, in <'onllict
maintainecl through preconventional legal sanctions belonss to a macro-structure reality and
the tvpe that involves political rule
Iower stage o1'cle,,elopment rhar)
and that. irl r.onflict situations, is maintained through conventional how sociologists help them
legal practices. \'et, li-orn tl-rc vantage-point o[' nroral
societies' the
statldards
lôrm ol
to do so
applicable to both primitive and civilized
practised in class sot:ieties must be.iudged as
.*ploitutio,l necessarilv
,. .egrersion in comparison with the moderatc social inequalities Michel Callon and Bruno Latour*
are
possible in kinship svsrems. This cxplains why class societies
to satislv the need lor legitimation that they Clanst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? . . . Lay thine hand upon
stru<-turalll unable
'l:his
procluce. i, the key,ro the recurritg class struggles in postki,ship l-rim remember the battle, do no more . . . . None is so fierce that
s c l c i e ites . dare stir him up: who then is able to stand belôre me?
Job 4l:7,8,10
baboons, one might tLrrn to more solid and less materials in tions he or she can put, as we sa,v,in black boxes. A black box contains
"'ariable
ordel to act in a more durable wav upon the bodies ol'our colleagues, that which no lonser needs to be reconsidered, those things whose
'fhe
parenl.s a1d lriends. I1 the state ol'nature , no one is strone enough to contents have become a matter ol'indillèrence. more elements
hold out against el'erv coalition.!r But il'you translbrm the state ol one c-an place in black boxes - modes ol'thoughts, habits, Ibrces and
nature, replacing urrsettled alliances as much as you can with walls objects - the broader the construction one can raise. Ol'course, black
and written contracts. thc ranks with unilirrms and tattoos attd re"'er- boxes never remain lully closed or properly làstened - as it is partic-
sible lriendships with names and signs, then you will obtain a ularly the case among the baboons - but macro-actors can do as if
'His
Ler''iathan: scales are his pride, shut uP together as with a close thev were closed and dark. Althoueh, as ethnomethodologists have
seal. One is so near to at'rother that no air can come between them. shown, we are all constantly struggling ltrr closing leaky black boxes,
'l'hel'are
joined one to an<>ther;they stick together that they cannot be macro-actors, to say the least, do not have to negotiate with equal
-fhev
sundercd' lJob {l: l5-l 7). intensitlt everythins. can go on and count on a tbrce while
,,\ dil}èrence in relative size is obtained when a micro-actor can, in negotiating lôr another. Il'they were not successlulat that, they could
addition to enlistins bodics. also errlist the greatest number o|'durable not simplily the social world. In mechanical terms, they could not
materials. He or she thus crcatcs greatness atld longevitv making the m:rke a machine, that is hide the continued exercise ol'a will to eive
others small and provisional in comparison. The secret ol'the dillèr- the impression ol'ltrrces that move by themsel','es.ln logical terms,
etrce between micro-actors and macro-actors lies precisely in what thev could not make chains ol'arsuments, that is stabilize discussion
analvsis olïen neglects to consider. The primatologists omit to say ol'certain premises to all<lw deductions or establish order between
that. to stabilize the ir world, the baboons do not have at their disposa- d i l l b r e n t el e m e n t s .
anv o[ the human instruments manipulated bv the observer. H<-rbbes Il the exprcssion'black l>ox'is too rigid to describe the I'orces
onrits to sav that no promise, however solemn, could liighten the which shut oll'the stacks of'boxes, and keep them hermetically sealed
contractit)g parties enoush to lôrce them to obey. He omits to sav that and obscure, another metaphor is possible, one Hobbes might have
what makes the sovereign ltrrmidable and the contract solemn are the used had he read \\'addington.r'i ln rhe first momenrs ol'lèrtilization,
palace liom which ht spcaks, tht well-equippcd armies that surround all cells are alike. But soon an epieenetic landscape takes lbrm where
him, the scribes and the recordirrs equipment that serve him.e2'I-he courses are cut out which tend to be irreversible; these are called
'chreods'. 'l-hen
ethnomethodologists lbrget to include in their analyses the làct that cellular dillèrentiation beqins. Whether we speak ol'
ambiguity ol'context in human societies is partially removed by a black boxes or chreods, we are dealing with the creation ol'asym-
whole gamut ol' tools, regulatiotls. walls and objects ol'which they metries. Let us then imagine a body where dillèrentiation is never
analyse only a part. \\'e must now gather up what their analysis leaves lullv irrer,'ersible, where each cell attempts to compel the others to
out and examine with the same method the strategies which enlist become irreversibly specialized, and where many organs are perma-
bodies. materials, discourses, techniques, lèclings, laws, oreaniz- nently claiming to be the head ol'the programme. If we imagine such
ations. Instead ol'dividin54 the subject with the social/technical, or a monsterwe shall have a fàirly clear idea ol'the Leviathan's body,
with the human/animal. or with the micro/macro dichotomies, we which we can at any moment see growing be(brc our very eyes.
will orrly retain ltrr the analysis gradientsof resistiuitltand consider only 1'he paradox with which we ended the introduction has now been
the aariations in relatiue soliditl and durabiLity oJ'difl'erent sortsoJ'materials. rcsolved. \\'e end up with act<-rrs of'dillère nt size even thoush they are
Bv associating materials ol'dillèrent durability, a set ol'practices is all is<lmorphic, because some have been able to put into black boxes
'l'he
placed in a hierart'hy in such a wav that some become stable and need more elements durably to alter their relative size. quesrion of'
'grow'. ln order to build
no longcr be conside red. Onlv thus can one method is also resolved. How can we examine macro-actors and
the Leviathan it is necessary to enrol a little morethan relationships, nricro-actors, we were wondering, without confirming dillèrences in
alliances and lriendships. An actor grows with the number ol- rela- size? Reph': bv directine our attention not to the social but towards
I
l!)132;the vears l9tt2-90 will be the years ol'zin<-nickel accumulators the economy (cost ol'cars with an internal combustion enqirrt., rlrr.
and the zinc-air circulation generator; liom 1990 onwards, luel cells market lèrr buses) and what comes li'om the realm ol'culturt (rrrlr;r,
will bc ready lLrr use. These sequences ol'choices are made up ol' lilè, Homo automobilis, lèar ol'pollution). It ties together all rlrr.sr.
scattcred elemenrs taken liom dillèrent contexts, gleaned bv EDF's scattered elements into a chain in which they are all indiss.t.iirlrlr
engineers, leaders and ideologists wherever they are available. From linked. c)ne is làrrcedto go through the m just as i|a line of reas.rrirrg
thcse scattered parts EDF creates a network o1'channels and regu- was being unlblded, a sysrem developed or a law appried. T'his t.lr^irr
lated scquences. or sequence traces a chreod or a set ol-chreods which thus definc tlrr.
Not ctontent with making parallel connections between overall margi' lbr manoeu're enjoved bv the othcr actors, their positi.rrs.
social development and technical channels, EDF begins to translate desires, knowledge a'd abilities. what they will want and be ablc t,
ipto simple language the products which industrialists cannot làil to do is chan'elled. Thus the EDF, like every Leviathan, gradualry
'fhe
wallt to produce, and the needs which clients and consumers cannot deposits interactions. re 'ow exists something resemblinu
fâil to lèel. FIDF ltrreseesa huge market lbr lead accumulators, that ol' cor)tents, and something resembling a container, the contents fluicl
light commercial vehicles. Zinc accumulators cannot làil to be pre- a'd the container stable. ()ur wills flow into the EDF's canals and
lèrred lbr use in elcctric taxis, whilst luel cells are certain to cotrquer ne tworks. lve rush towards the electric engine iust as the river water
thc private car market as a whole . rushes towards the Seine alons the stone a;d .on..",. pipes designed
In the space ol'a fèw years, and by dint ol'organizing channels, by the hydraulic ensineers. (lontrary to what Hobbes states, thanks
branches and developments, EDI' begins to translate the deep to this prelimi'ary mineralization, certain actors became the Form ol'
clesires. the technical knowledge and the needs and aptitudes ol'a the Leviathan's bodv and certain others its Matter.
larse number ol'actors. F-DF thus structures a reality by building up a And ye t, as we have already stated, an actor is never alone, despite
carelully
eieantic orqanizarional chart in which each black box, each'l'he everything it has. In vain does it saturate the social world, tottize
demarcated islet, is linked to other boxes by a set o1'arrows. islets history and the state ol'wills, it can never be al.ne since alr the actors
are shut ol], and the arrows are unequivocal. Thus is the l'eviathan are isomorphic and those it enrols can desert it. One actor, for
'l'he
structured. actor tells vou what you want, what you will be able example, had its role redefi.ed by EDF in the course ol'this vast
to clo in ir, l0 or l5 years, in which order you will do it, what yt-ruwill connecting-up ol'necessities. Renault, which then produced petrol_
be glad to possess, and ol'what you will be capable. And 2ou reaLll driven cars, seemed to have a brilliant luture ahead of it, and symbol_
belieuethis,,vou identilV with the actor and will help him or her with all ized industrial success in F'rance. EDF changed its destiny, taking
yorlr strclsth. irresistibly attracted bl thc dillèrenccs i1 level hc or away its luture. Now Renault symbolizes industries doomed because
she has created. !\'hat Hobbes described as an exchange ol'words ol'city congestion, pollution and the Iuture ol'industrial societies. It
cluring a period ol'universal warlàre should be described more subtly must now - like the others - make changes in its intended production.
in the fôllowing way: an actor says what I want, what I know, what I Now Renault would like to make the chassis ltrr the electric vehicles
'I'his
can clo, marks out what is possible and what impossible, what is social planned by EDF. modest role suits the company well, and
and what technical, their parallel developments and the cmergence ol' corresponds to what it cannot but want. So Renault goes along with
a market lbr zinc taxis and electric mail vans. How could I possibly what EDF wants, just like the rest ol'F'rance, movins towards an
resist when that is exactly what I want, when that is the correct a l l - e l c c t r i cl u t u r e .
trar.rslation of'my unlbrmulated wishes? So làr we have not said whether lbr EDF' this is a question ol'
r\n acror like llDF clearly displays how thc Leviathan is built up in something dreamed up by engineers, or a reality. In fact no one can
practice - and not juridic.rlly. lt insinuatesitsell'into each element, make this distinction a priori, Itrr it is rhe very basis of the struggle
makins no distir.rction between what is from the realm o[ nature between the actors. The electric vehicle is thus 'real'. The actors thar
(catalysis, texture ol'grids in the luel cell), what is li<-rmthe realm ol EDF has approached and mobilized to play the role of a firm founda-
M. CallonandB' Latour Unscrewingthebig Leuialhan 291
290
in
EDF thÏt adhere to the differences electric car will never approach.Already one ol'EDF's premiseshas
tion - designed lbr them by .
has.laid out' But now something been upset, a dillèrence in level flattened out or filled in and one ol'the
level which the public e*'ttptitt
'r,ïpp.tt
what we havebeenseekingto black boxesopenedand prolàned.Renault becomesbolder. If EDF's
*r,ich;ill hel;u' ut'dtt"u''d relative
ol'this chapter' that is how irrterpretationol-socialevolutioncan be thrown out ofjoint, perhaps
explain since the btgit;i;
dimensions are changed' the same is true of its knowledgeol'electrochemistry?Perhapsthe
--
will disappear as an autonomous technicaldemandscould be altered?
i; ; few years' time Renault has no
' it, is doomed' and Renault sets out on the long task ol'dissociatingthe associations
actor. Together wittr tht ptt'ol gngine which
tttiuitils - unless the landscape made by EDF. Each interactionis tested,every calculationredone,
option but to ."otit'ltutt iL this
itself can be remodelled' But can every black box opened. The engineersare requestioned,the labor-
EDF projects befioretJ t'"""a its way
years Renault is unable to fight atories revisited, the records re-examined, the state of electro-
be done? During tnt Ât'i ft*
asreesthat the private
;;;;ô" tr,J EoE;' ftedictions' Evervone chemistry called into question.EDF had chosento simplily certain
car is doomed. inlbrmation and to incorporatemassesol'figureswhich Renault now
considers contradictory. As a consequencethe chronology is dis-
As all sociologistsagree' no one
How can this black box be opened? turbed. For EDF the internal combustionengine was a dead-end.
How can the situation be reversed?
will want a private car any to'e' Renault discoversthat, by using electronics,it can be perlèctedso as
in.the scenarioof an enterprtse
Wno .u.t reïeal technitul ig"o'u'lte [n
to be unbeatable ltrr several decades.Conversely,EDF had men-
()tpt;a"ttion and distributiono{'electricity? tioned channelswith regard to zinc accumulators.Renault doesthe
which has a monop"i, is that Renault will
possibleconcl,usion sums again, assesses the estimates,getsanother cxpert opinion tiom
thesecircrrmstancesin" ànty tnt
bt't o"t.tun tludup:t: the experts,and shelvesthe zinc accumulatortechnicallyso that, at
làil, and one must bt;i;;t l:î 1,1Ïo::1lt'
no wlsh to ors-
And yet Rerrault has the verv best,it would be suitableto equip a Ièw tip-lorriesnruchlater
or,r. *ittout the theimal car.
autonomousand indivisible' itself
apPear; Renault wants to remain than planned by EDF. Similarly, what EDF called the luel cell
and technicalluture of the industrial 'channel'
deciding what will Ut int 'otiut was lbr Renault a cul-de-sac.Insteadol'being the chreod
Re.naultwould dearly like to
world. What ED! * ntrnft associates'- through which flowed the wills ol'the engineers,it became.justa rut.
the work ol'undermining the edifice' Into it lèll onlv thoselaboratorieswhich backedthe wrong technical
dissociate.So t<t"uittf Ulgi"t
g'o""d' seeksallies'How can Renault revolution and placedall their hopesin the study of catalysis.Like the
probesth. *utt', -ukt"li'to"
- if it is not careful - become the rivers in (lhina which sometimessuddenly change their course,
trans{'orm lr'ru, t'tt'o" *tiut *iit 'on
(trrceEDF to remain' as we say'
reality ol.tomorrow?How can it demarrds and technical channelsare thus diverted. The industrial
the drawing board'? society was running towards an all-electricIuture. Now it continues
want a thermal car any more' And
EDF stated that no one would all
its majesticcoursetowards the private car with an improved thermal
prices'l:Tu"O lbr cars is growing engine. As Renault grows larger its t-uturelooks more rosy than it ever
yet, despite ir,tttu"' it'-petrol *-1^I:ot*
which EDF links together seemedbelbrethis conliontation.F,DFshrinksin proportion.lnstead
the time. These two elements'
in practice' Oil prices can rlse con- ol'defining transport and reducingRenaultto the roleol'subordinate,
interaction, prove dissociable
concurrentlywith the fight against
currently with demand lor cars' EDF has had to retire lrom the field, withdraw its troopsand trans-
hopesrise once more'
;;ii;,;;; and with citv congestion'Re.nault's Itrrm the world which it was buildins out ol'an ensineer'sdream.
desiresdiflerently:now they want
and it begins,o,rurJu,..oi.u*.,
price' As a result the luture is altered
the traditionul ptiuute lur at any 'fhe
word is out'
-l'he
ttttutul market'
yet again: the tltctric t;arhas no as
3.2 The rulesoJ'sociological
method
EDF Leviathan are not the same
natural laws as intltpteted by the demands
'I'he nature'
lbr Renault. cànsum.r, Uy his or her very This conliontation clearly displayshow the Leviathan is structured,
comfbrt and accelerationthat the
perlt,rmance, *lt'n t"g"ta to 'pt"a' making no a priori distinction betweenthe sizeol'actors,betweenthe
ç
'292 (Jnscrewing
thebig Leuiathan 293
M. Callon and B. Latour
but also whal thel are. On the basis of scattered ir.rlbrmation, replies to
questionnaires, anecdotes, statistics and lèelings, the sociologist
Halles' in central Paris, they put lôrward 600 alternative projects, in
'fown interprets, sounds out, incorporates and states what the actors are
addition to the hundreds the Paris Hall had already con-
(classes, cateeories, groups, cultures, etc.), what they want, what
sidered. A tiny actor becomes a macro-actor, just like in the French
'The interests them and how they live. SelÈdesisnated and selËappointed,
nursery rhyme: cat knocks over the pot, the pot knocks over the
spokesmen o1'the people, they have, lbr more than a century now,
table, the table knocks over the room, the room knocks over the house,
taken over liom Hobbes's sovereign: the voice that speaks in the mask
the house knocks over the street, the street knocks over Paris: Paris,
is their own.
Paris, Paris has làllenl' lVe cannot know who is big and who is small,
who is hard and who is soli, who is hot and who is cold. The ellèct ol'
these tongues which suddenly start to wag and these black boxes that 1.1 The sociologist Leuiathan
suddenly snap shut is a city, uncountable Leviathans with the beauty
!\'e have ltrllowed through the crearion ol-the political Leviathan on
ol'the beast or o1'thc circles ol'hell.
Hobbes's Leviathan was indeed a paradise by comparison with the basis of a contract, the lbrmation of the monkey-Leviathan and,
what we have described here. As lbr the baboons' Leviathan. it is a last, the constructior.rol-the monster-Leviathan. Now we shall seehow
the sociologist-Leviathan is built. We can already state as a matter of
dream ol'the unadulterated society amid the beaut.v ol'the still-wild
principle that Leviathans ltrrmed like sociologies or sociologies like
savannah. The monster that we are, that we inhabit and that we
[,eviathans.
Iâshion sings a quite dillèrent song. ll'Weber and his intellectual
'disenchanted', So what do sociologists do? Some say rhar there is a social system.
descendants lôund that this monster was becoming 'I-his
interpretation ol'the social credits translation processeswith a
this was because they allowed themselves to be intimidated by tech-
'I'his coherence that thev lack. To state that there is a system is to make an
niques and macro-actors. is what we shall now show.
actor grow by disarming the lbrces which he or she 'systematizes'and
'unifies'.
Of course, as we have seen, the Le','iathan's arithmetic is
the sociologist Leviathan very special: each system, each totality is addedto the others without
4 Conclusion:
retrenching itsell, thereby producing the hybrid monster with a
In order to grow we must enrol other wills by translating what they thousand heads and a thousand systems. What else does the socio-
logist do? He or she interprets the Leviathan, saying for example that
want and by reilying this translation in such a way that none of them
it is a cybernetic machine. So all associations between actors are
can desire anything else any longer. Hobbes resrictcd this process ol-
'political representation'. The described as circuits ol'an artificial intelligence, and rranslations are
translation to what we now call 'integrations'.
seen as Here again the Leviathan is built up by this
scattered wills are recapitu.lated in the person ol'the sovereign who
type ol'description: it is proud to be a machine and immediately, like
says what we want, and whose word has (brce ol'law and cannot be
'political any machine, starts to transmit forces and motions in a mechanical
contradicted. And yet it is a very long time now since
way. ()1-course this interpretation is added to all the others and
representation' was alone sufhcient to translate the desires of the
struggles against them. For the Leviathan is - sometimes and in some
multitude. Alier political science,the scienceofeconomics also claims
places - a traditional and not a cyberne tic machine , likewise a body, a
to sound loins and colfers, and to be able to say not only what the
market, a text, a game, etc. Since all interpretations act upon it
goods, services and people making up the Leviathan desire, but also
simultaneously, performing and transforming fbrces according ro
what they are worth. In this article we are not interested in political
whether they are machines, codes, bodies or markets, the result is this
science or economics. We are interested in the latecomers, the socio-
logists, who also translate - using polls, quantitative and qualitative same monster again, at one and the same time machine, beast, god,
word and town. What else can sociolosists do? They can say. ficr
surveys - not only what the actors want, not only what they are worth,
T
298 M. Callon and B. Latour
[Jnscreuing the big Leuiathan 2gg
'restrict
example, that they themselves to the study of the social'.
'reality about the Leviathan, or. shrink to what three PhD students think
They then divide the Leviathan into levels' leaving aside, Ibr
about themselves in some British university. The sociologists'
example, the economic, political, technical and cultural aspects in
'social'. laneuage has no privileged relationship with the Leviathan. T'hey act
order to restrict themselves to what is The black boxes that
upon it. Suppose thev state that the Leviathan is unique and svstem-
contain these làctors are thus sealed up and no sociologist can open
atic, suppose they create cybernetic, hierarchically integrated sub-
them without stepping outside the field. The Leviathans purr with
svstems: either this will be accepted, or not, will spread, or not, will be
relief, for their structure disappears from view, whilst they allow their
used as resources by others - or will not. The successol'this definition
social parts to be sounded. Of course, as we know (see the EDF), no
ol'the Leviathan proves nothing a.bout the latter's own nature. An
actor is so powerlirl that its decisions and associations as a whole will be
empire is born, that ol'Parsons, and that is all. Clonversely, the làct
finally and definitely considered as technical reality. The other actors,
that ethnomethodologists might manase to convince their colleagues
helped by sociologists, push back and trace anew the boundaries
that macro-actors do not exist proves nothing about their non-
between what is technical, economic, cultural and social. The result is
existence. Sociologists are neither better nor worse than any other
that here again the Leviathans are hacked about by conflictine teams
actors. Neither are they more external nor more internal, more nor
of sociologists, and are covered with scars like Frankenstein. What
less scientific."r Clommon. roo common.
else do sociologists do? Like everyone else, they never stop workine to
define who acts and who speaks. They tape the recollections of'a
workman, a prostitute or an old Mexican; they interview; they hand 4.2 How to slip betweentwo mistakes
out open and closed questionnaires on every subject under the sun;
A macro-actor, as we have seen, is a micro-actor seated on black
they unceasingly sound out the opinions of the masses.Each time they
boxes, a lôrce capable ol'associating so ûrany other lôrces that it acts
interpret their surveys they inform the Leviathan, translbrming and 'I'he
like a 'singlc man'. result is rhat a macro-acror is by definition no
perlirrming it. Each time they construct a unity, define a sroup,
more dilficult to examine than a micro-acror. Growth is only possible
attribute an identity, a will or a project;2eeach time they explain what
il' one can associate long lasting ltrrces with onesell' and therebl.
is happening, the sociologist, sovereign and author - as Hobbcs trsed
simplilv exis(ence. Hence a ma(.ro-actoris at least as simple as a
the term - add to the struggling Leviathans new identities, definitions
micro-actor sinceotherzaise it couldnot hauebecomebigger. M'e do not drar,r,
and wills which enable other authors to grow or shrink, hicle away or
closer to social reality by descendine to micro-neeotiations or by
reveal themselves, expand or contract.
risir.re towards the macro-actors. \\'e must leave behind the precor.r-
Like all the others, and lbr the same reason, sociologistswork on the ('eptions w,hi<'hlead us to believe that mac.ro-actorsarc nrorc compli-
Leviathan. Their work is to define the nature ol' the Leviathan
cated than micro-actors. T'he opposite might be true as the example ol'
whether it is unique or whether there are more than one, what they
the baboons showed us. A macro-actor can only erow il'it simplifies
want and how they translbrm themselves and evolve. This specific
'metadiscourse'- itsell. As it simplifies its existence, it simplifies the work ol'the sociolo-
task is in no way unusual. There is no to speak
gist. It is no more dilEcult to send tanks into Kabul than to dial 999. I t is
archaically - about the Leviathan. Every time they write sociologists
no more dilûcult to describe Renault than the secretary who takes
grow or shrink, become macro-actors - or do not - expand, like
telephone calls at the Houston police station. Il'it were much more
Lazarslèld, to the scale ol'a multinational.;r{)or shrink to a restricted
d i l E c u l t t h e t a n k s w o u l d n o t m o v e a n d R e n a u l t w o u l d n o ( e x i s t .' f h e r c
sector o{'the market. What makes them srow or shrink? The other
would be no macro-actors. By claimine that mat_-ro-actorsare more
actors whose interests, desires and lbrces they translate more or less
complex than micro-actors sociolosists discourage analvsis, and ham-
successfully, and with whom they ally or quarrel. Depending on the
string investigators. And they prevent the secret ol-the macro-actors'
period, the strategies, the institutions and the demands. the socio-
growth liom being revealed: making operarions childishly simple. 1'he
logist's work can expand until it becomes what everyone is saying
kins is not only naked, he is a child playing with (leaky) black boxes.
.l0o ,ll. Callon and B. Latour Unscrewingthzbig Leuiathan 301
The <lther preconception, too olïen shared by sociologists, is that For the sociologist then the question ol' method boils down to
indir,'idual micro-negotiations are rruer and more real than the know'ingwhere to place onesell.Like Hobbes himsell,he or she sits
abstract, distant structures ol'the macro-actors. Here again, nothing just at the point where the contract is made, just where ficrcesare
could be further lrom the truth lbr almost every resource is utilized irr translated,and the dillerencebetweenthe technicaland the socialis
the huge task ol'structuring macro-acrors. Only a residue is leli lbr the l'ought out, just where the irreversible becomesreversibleand where
individuals. What the sociologist too hastily studies is the diminished, the chreods reverse their slopes.There, only a tiny amount of energy
anaemic being, trying hard to occupy the shrinkine skin lelt to it. In a is necessaryto drag a maximum of information about its growth from
world already structured bv macro-actors, nothing could be poorer the newborn monster.
and more abstract than indiv'idual social interaction. The dreamers The sociologists who choose these places are no longer anyone's
who would like to restructure macro-actors on the basis ol' the lackey or ward. They no longer needdissectthe corpsesof Leviathans
individual will arrir.'e at an even more monstrous body lôr they must already rejected by others. They no longer lèar the great black boxes
lcave out all the hard parts which have enabled the macro-actors to 'social world' where they no more
which dominate the whole of the
simplill their lives and ro take over all the space. wander like ghosts,cold as vampires,with wooden tongues,seeking
the 'social' belbre it coagulates.The sociologists- teratologists- are
in the warm,light places,the placeswhere black boxesopen up, where
4.3 More than a monster,a monsterand a halJ'
the irreversible is reversedand techniquesreturn to lilè; the places
!\'hat then is a sociolosist? Someone who studies associations and that give birth to uncertainty as to what is large and what is small,
dissociations, that is all, as the w,ord 'social' itsell'implies. Assocri- what is social and what technical.They inhabit the blessedplace
atiorls between men? Not soleh'. si.ce lbr a long tinre now associations where the betrayed and translatedvoicesof authors- Matter of the
between men have been expanded and extended through other allies: social body - become the voice ol'the sovereignactor describedby
words, rituals, iron, wood, seeds and rain.'l'he sociologist studies all Hobbes - the Form ol'the socialbodv.
associations, but in particular the translbrmation ol'weak interactions
i l l t o s t r o n s , n e s a n d v i c c ' e r s a . ' l ' h i s i s o f s p e c i a l i ' t e r e s t b e c a u s eh er t :
the re lative dimensions ol'the actors are altered. lVhen we use the Notes
w o r d ' s t u d y ' w e m u s t m a k e c l e a r t h e r e i s o l ' c o u r s e n o s u s g e s t i o no l
-I'.
knowledee. All inlbrmation is translbrmatiorr, an emersency oper- Hobbes, TheLeuiathan( 165I ) (London: Pelican Books, l97B), p. 185.
ation on and in the Leviathan's body. All ouotations are li"om that edition.
,2 l b i d . , p . 2 l l i .
!\'hen we slip between two mistakes, we do not intend to withdraw ,l
l b i d . ,p . 2 1 9 .
to some distant planet. What is valid ltrr the others is valid lbr us roo. + Ibid.,p. 227.
!\'e too work on the Leviathan, we roo aim to sell our concepts, we too 5 I b i d . ,p . 2 1 7 .
scek allies and associates and decide who it is we want to please or h (loncept developed by Michel Serres,Ia Traduction, HermèsIII (Paris: Ed.
displease. By taking lbr granted dillèrences in level and size berween de Nlinuit, 197-t),and then applied to sociologybv M. Clallon
'L' ()pération de traduction', in M. Roqueplo (ed.),lncidence desrapports
a('tors, thc sociologist ratifies past, present and luture winners, (Paris: (INRS,
soeiauxsur le déueloppement scicntifquect technique
whoever they may be. finding làr'our with the powerlul because thev I9 7 r ) .
rnake them look reasonable. Bv agreeine to restrict the stud,v ol' 7 Even the sacrificial victim o[R. Girard, Das Choses cachées depuislafondation
associations to the residual social, the sociologist alfixes sealsonto the du monde( Paris: Grasset. I 97tt)' is nothine but a more solemn and cruel
l>lack boxes, and once asain guarantees rhat the strong will be secure lbrm ol'contract and a particular caseol'ranslation. I t cannot be made the
fbundation o1'theother forms.
and the cemeteries peacelul - filled with lines ol'hermetically closed 'actor'we mean, liom now on, the semioticdefinition by A.
8 By the term
black boxes crawlins with worms. Greimas in Dictionnaire desémiotique (Paris:Hachette, 1979):'whatever unit
302 M. Callonand B. Latour Llnscreuing the big Leuiathan 303
ol'discourseis investedofa role', like the notion of force,it is no way limited . l llolrlres, TheLeuiathan, p. lti3, lôr human, and Strum. ',\gonistic
to'human'. | )orninance in N{ale Baboons- r\n Alte rnate View', fôr baboons.
9 Seethe devastatingcriticism ol'psychoanalysismade by G. Deleuzeand F. lnhis Mllho.f'theMachine(NewYork: Harcourt, l96ti), Lewis I\lumlôrd
Guattari, L'Anti-Ocdipe, capitalisme (Paris: Ed. de Minuit,
et schiaophrénie tlit's to integrate dillèrent sortsol'materials, but he makestwo major
1972).For them there is no differenceofsize betweena child's dreamsand nristakes:first, he sticksto the metaphorol'the machine,insteadof'
a conqueror's empire or betweenthe lamily lilè story and the political rlissol'u'ingit; second, he takeslôr granted the sizeol'the mesamachine
story. The unconscious,anyway, is not 'individual', so that in our irrsteadol'tracing its senealoev.'I'hesame thins can be said of'4. Leroi-
innermost dreams we still act inside the whole body politic and vice versa. (l<rurlrarr. LaGesteetlaparole(Paris:r\lbinNlichel, llXi-l),althouehhetries
l0 On this point, like on most, Cl. B. Macphe rson, ThePolitiealTheoryoJ vcr v-hard to blur the limits betweentechnicsand culture,but fàvours.
Posscssiae Indiuidualism:Hobbesto Locke(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), ncverthclcss.()nesort of divisionand one sort o[ detcrminism.
missedHobbes's originality. It is not Marxism that helps interpret what is ] : J ( l. H. \\'addin gton, ToolsJ'or Thought( London : Paladin, I 9 77).
beneath Hobbes's theory; it is, on the contrary, the latter that might :r
explain what is beneath the former. .saisipar l'auenture (Paris:(;ORDES, l97ti);and Rapportsurle
technologique
ll SeeR. Collins (this volume) and P. Bourdieu (this volume). uéhinleélectiqza(Paris: CORDES, 1978).
t2 Seethe conclusion ol'this chapter. l l l'or more complete dcscriptions,seeF . Nie tzsche, Thelt'ill to Power(New
l.) For instance A. C)icourel,MelhodandMeasurement in Sociolog(New York: York: (iarderr Press, 197-l);Ci.Deleuzcand l'. Guattari, Mille Plateaux
Free Press,1964),as an exampleol'the requirementsthat tie the observer's (Paris: L,d. de Nlinuit, 1979);ts. Latour. Irréduetions:précisdePhilosophie
hands. Ethnome thodologistshave since much increasedthe constraints ( Paris:Clhèloteur,Mtl I ).
on what can be said about societv. 2(r Hobbes, TheLeuiathan,p.l5O.
l4 This part is basedon an ongoing study on the sociologyol'primatologyby ')7 Nlichel Serres,Le Parasite(Paris Grasset.1980).
one ol'us (B.L.). Most of this chapter is inspired by the work ol'Shirley 2u Hobbes, TheLcuiathan,p.18.
Strum. Sheis in no way responsiblefor the awkward situation in which we 29 F or instance, seel-uc Boltanski, "l'axinomie socialeet lutte de classe',,4cles
put her baboons, but only lor the new and revolutionary way she dela recherche socialrs,29 ( 1979), pp. 75-l 10.
ensciences
understands animal sociology.For direct referencesseeS. Strum, 'Life Jo Nlichael Pollak,'Paul Lazarslèld,unc NlultinationalcdesSciences
with the Pumphous-Gang', NationalGeographic, May ( 1975), pp. 672-79 I ; Sociales',Actesdela recherche ensciences ( 1979),pp. {>{i0.
sociales,2ir
'Interim 'l'hc
Report on the Developmentof a Tradition in a T'roop ol'Olive ril lack of'distinctionbetweensoli and hard sciencesis shown in B.
Baboons', Science lB7 (1975),pp. 75F7; 'Agonistic Dominance in Male Latour arrd S. \\'oolgar. Laboratory LiJè: TheSocialConstructionoJ ScienttJic
-
Baboons An Alternate View' (forthcoming). For an analysisol'the link iàcls (London: Saee,1979).
between primatology and political philosophy, seeDonna Haraway,
'Animal
Sociologyand a Natural Economy ol'the Body Politic', Signs,4/l
( I 978), pp. 2 l-60.
l5 Except insects,of'course,Hobbes, TheLeaiathan, p.225.
l6 Ibid.,p. l86.
t7 For two generaf presentations,seeH. Kummer, PrimateSocieties (New
York: Aldine, I 973); and T. Rowell, SociaL Behattiour of Monkels( London:
Penguin,1972).Fora historicalbackgroundseeDonna Haraway,'Animal
Sociology and a Natural Economy ol'the Body Politic', and'Signs ol'
Dominance : From a Physiologyto a Cyberneticsol'Primate Societies,().
R. Carpenter l93O-1970' (forthcoming).
'Agonistic
l8 S. Strum, Dominancein Male Baboons-An AlternateView'.
l9 This was already visible in H. Kummer, 'Social Organization of'
Hamadryas Baboons' (Chicago:Aldine, l968), and very clear in H.
'On
Kummer, the Value ol'SocialRelationshipsto Non-Human Primates.
A Heuristic Scheme', Social Scienceldormation,l7 ( l97U), pp.687-707.
20 This is the caseeither in the sort olBourdieu sociologythat Kummer used
to describehis baboons ('On the Value ofSocial Relationships'),or in the
sociobiologicalmyth of delènceof investments.
Advances in social theory and
methodology
Toward an integration of micro-
and macro-sociologies
Editedby
K. Knorr-Cetina andA. V. Cicourel
@
Routledge& Kegan Paul
Boston, London and Henley
Contents