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Actor-Network-Theory and Creativity Research

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Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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. Department of Communication Studies, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Gerald Bartels

  2. Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, AB, Canada

    Gerald Bartels

  3. Research and Innovation of Intervene Design, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Gerald Bartels

  4. Center for the Sociology of Innovation, Mines ParisTech University, 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 .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Systems and Technology, Management, European Union Research Center, GWU School of Business, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Elias G. Carayannis

Section Editor information

  1. Economic Information Systems, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia

    Igor N. Dubina

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Bartels, G., Bencherki, N. (2020). Actor-Network-Theory and Creativity Research. In: Carayannis, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15347-6_51

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