ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces French sociologist Bruno Latour, who attempts to make room for the object and the material in his sociology. Latour is the most significant exponent of the so-called actor network theory (ANT), which represents an entirely new way of thinking about the social and society. The chapter focuses on the object that sociology has occupied itself with for generations. Through a discussion of Latour and Slavoj Zizek, it attempts to relate this object to the domains of subjects and things. Latour's concept "factish" refers to a fusion or an indistinction between societal and material objects. Zizek's concept "fetish" refers to a fusion or an indistinction between the societal and investments based on the subject's desire. The chapter links the field of sociology to the domain of material objects (science) and the domain of desire (psychoanalysis). The notion of the unconscious as some sort of ghost-like or hidden substance has caused many to liken psychoanalysis to mysticism.
