On the Ontology of Networks

Society can no longer be thought of as independent of networks because discourses, theories, images, and institutions have transformed and abandoned the metaphor of hierarchy. This paper investigates the space occupied by the network metaphor during the past few decades and how it deals with the demarcation between what is “inside” and what remains “outside.” Examining theorists such as Manuel Castells, Albert-László Barabási, and Michel Callon, who have tried to map out the conditions of a “network,” the paper elucidates why “networks” should be approached ontologically more than as a matter of a conceptual tool.