Genre
Sociology, Non-fiction, Critique
Setting and Context
Post-modern setting
Narrator and Point of View
Bruno Latour uses a third-person voice.
Tone and Mood
Analytical, comparative, sociological, rational, empirical, review
Protagonist and Antagonist
Social scientists are the protagonists.
Major Conflict
No conflict: Latour’s objective is to expound the “Actor-Network-Theory.”
Climax
Latour’s critique lacks a climax.
Foreshadowing
Latour mostly cites studies conducted in the post and theories postulated by scholars and sociologists: these qualify as flashbacks.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Latour alludes to sociology, anthropology, and history (such as the Rwandan Genocide and the "Glorious Alliance").
Imagery
Society is a network whose key components are actors. Objects that the actors utilize in their interactions are critical in the making of social order. Therefore, asymmetries are inevitable in the social world.
Paradox
Controversies and disagreements among social scientists regarding the composition of the "social world" are paradoxical. Given the scientists' theories and knowledge, the controversies would have been minimized or at least reconciled.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
‘Media res’ denotes middle of.
Personification
Shirley Strum's portrayal of baboons personifies them because they are given the capacity to create a social order that is better than humanity's.
