Summary Of Where Are The Missing Masses By Bruno Latour

Material Culture

In “Where Are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artefacts,” Bruno Latour argues that objects are essential constituents of society that play important roles in relation with humans. By providing several examples, such as the groom that closes doors after people open them, the author illustrates the ways in which artefacts can replace and determine human actions creating a ‘balance’ in humanity; compensating for the lack of responsibility portrayed by humans through a process that includes morality, values and duties. Latour claims that what makes us humans is our ability to make objects and their (objects) ability to ‘make us’ in return. He indicates that the objects are anthropomorphic because they are created by humans, substitute for them and constrain their actions. Nevertheless, their mere existence does not signify compliance from
With the use of a main non-human object that influences human actions, interacts with them, and is an active member of society, the movie is able to depict the various ways in which objects take place in society and highlight the importance of their appropriate study in order to understand ‘rational courses of action’. Every single character in the movie is motivated by the temptation of the Ring in one way or another. Some fight this temptations, others deny it, try to prevent it from affecting others and/or encourage it; and all of their object-based actions affect not only each other but the Middle Earth as a whole. In other words, the interactions between the Ring (non-human, active subject) and the characters (human, active subjects) shape their actions and the course of history. At the end, every decision made is goal-oriented and, in one way or another, the goal is defined by the