Actor-Network Theory as an Ontology for Visual Sociology

Abstract

In the article, I discuss different options provided by binding visual sociology with actor-network theory propagated by Bruno Latour. ANT could constitute an ontology for visual sociology and ground the use of images in the research. I assume that ambivalent and uncertain position of visuality in social sciences results from the lack of appropriate theoretical anchoring.

To accommodate both domains, I adopt terms from the theory of history of arts, above all, Georges Didi-Huberman’s notion of a symptom. It is necessary since Latour does not approach the subject of visual sociology and of visuality in the research (however, he did produce few visual projects and have made some references to the problem of the image). The ontology of the image also is not a subject of sociology as a discipline; therefore, deliberations on this problem should come from other fields and disciplines.