Laboratory Life
Quick Summary
Laboratory Life by Bruno Latour and Steven Woolgar challenges the traditional view of scientific inquiry. Instead of presenting science as a purely rational and objective process, their work, based on observing molecular biologists at the Salk Institute, portrays scientific knowledge as a product of social, political, and economic interactions.1
The book suggests that scientific facts are constructed through a process of negotiation and competition within the scientific community. Latour and Woolgar's approach, known as actor-network theory, emphasizes the complex relationships between human and nonhuman elements in the creation of scientific knowledge. This perspective highlights that scientific discoveries are not simply unearthed truths but are rather outcomes of intricate networks and social processes.1
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