ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Latour’s socio-technical approach to innovation, the role of technology and objects in social life and the concept of technical failure. First, it presents his sociology of mundane artefacts drawing on the example of the Berlin key. It then elaborates on the pragmatist perspective that guides Latour’s approach to objects. In the light of this perspective the divide between the ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ is abandoned in favour of the idea of mediation. The concepts of ‘mediator’, ‘intermediary’, ‘script’ and ‘prescription’ are discussed and illustrated. Drawing on a range of examples, the chapter demonstrates how technology plays an important role in mediating human relationships, and how society is built by things – IT technologies, trains, telegraph cables, cars, but also buildings and infrastructure. Finally, drawing on Latour’s book Aramis, or the Love of Technology (1996), the chapter discusses the concept of ‘project’ and ‘technological failure’. It reflects on the active role of objects in design and dwelling practices.
