Levers and Counterweights: A Laboratory that Failed to Raise the World

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Abstract
According to Bruno Latour in his paper `Give Me a Laboratory and I Will Raise the World', laboratories are irreplaceable sources of political strength which override traditional political forces. Latour's conclusions are based on a study of Pasteur and his work with anthrax in nineteenth-century France. This paper takes as a case study a contemporary Australian laboratory established to work on exotic animal disease viruses, including Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus, to illustrate some of the shortcomings of Latour's approach. Laboratories do not always raise the world, whatever that may mean. Among other inadequacies, Latour fails to provide a comprehensive analysis of the complexity of the social forces that operate in any particular context. Traditional political forces provide an environment or context which may encourage or thwart the potential power of laboratories.

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