RECENT TRENDS IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

This text proposes a critical analysis of some recent pieces of work in the sociology of sciences using the language of ''actors-networks'' and ''heterogeneous engineering''. It scrutinizes the way these notions are presented, justified and used in the description of empirical studies. Following this critical study, the text proposes a sociology model of the practice of science which is meant to be reflexive, in harmony with the present state of knowledge about the microdynamics of research, and which takes into account the structural constraints of the practice of science. The model attempts to identify, from among the infinite variations brought to light in the many micro-histories of scientific practices, those constants that unite them.