Michel Callon


Michel Callon was a French sociologist who was a professor of sociology at the École des mines de Paris and member of the Centre de sociologie de l'innovation. He was an author in the field of Science and Technology Studies and one of the leading proponents of actor–network theory with Madeleine Akrich, John Law and Bruno Latour. Callon died on 28 July 2025.

Works

Callon’s earlier works on sociology of science and on translation contributed to the study of how scientists act to problematize an issue, interest other actors and recruit them as to mobilize a constituency around an issue. His article Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay is one of the most cited in the literature of Science and Technology Studies.
From the late 1990s, Callon led efforts to apply ANT approaches to study economic life, notably economic markets. This body of work interrogates the interrelation between the economy and economics, highlighting the ways in which economics and economics-inspired disciplines such as marketing shape the economy.

Books

  • Callon, Michel . The Laws of the Markets. London: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Callon, Michel. "Why virtualism paves the way to political impotence", Economic Sociology - the European electronic newsletter.
  • Callon, M., Lascoumes, P., & Barthe, Y.. Acting in an uncertain world: an essay on technical democracy. The MIT Press.
  • Callon, M.. Markets in the Making: Rethinking Competition, Goods, and Innovation. United States: Zone Books.

    Chapters in books

  • Callon, Michel. "Struggles and Negotiations to Define What is Problematic and What is Not: The Socio-logic of Translation." pp. 197–221 in The Social Process of Scientific Investigation, edited by Karin D. Knorr. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing.
  • Callon, Michel. "Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay." pp. 196–233 in Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge, edited by John Law. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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