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Actor-Network-Theory and Creativity Research

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Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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Synonyms

ANT; Sociology of Innovation; Sociology of Translation

Introduction

Gilles Deleuze (1998) defines creation as the making of configurations – a position close to that, say, of British philosopher Alfred N. Whitehead (see for example Cloots 2001). Studying creativity, therefore, can be understood as the study of the way new relations or connections are established between elements in order to make up new beings, bodies, concepts, products, or things – in the broadest sense of these words. For Deleuze, creativity is not an optional activity; it is instead a necessity: “A creator is not someone who works for pleasure. A creator only does what he absolutely needs” (p. 135). It is also a necessity because it is in the name of his/her creation that the creator may speak. In other words, the configurations that he/she builds consequently entangle and constitute him/her as a subject.

The study of creativity, therefore, is not only the observation of specific moments when people come up...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Montréal, 2900 boul. Édouard-Montpetit, Montreal, Canada

    Gerald Bartels

  2. Center for the Sociology of Innovation, Mines ParisTech University, 60 Boulevard Saint Michel, 75272, Paris, France

    Nicolas Bencherki

Authors
  1. Gerald Bartels
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  2. Nicolas Bencherki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerald Bartels .

Section Editor information

  1. Economic Information Systems, Altai State University, Lenina pr. 61, 656049, Barnaul, Russia

    Igor N. Dubina

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Bartels, G., Bencherki, N. (2017). Actor-Network-Theory and Creativity Research. In: Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6616-1_51-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6616-1_51-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6616-1

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