The book is an "anthropology of science" that explores the dualistic distinction modernity makes between nature and society.

Contemporary matters of public concern such as global warming, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and emerging biotechnologies mix politics, science, and popular & specialist discourse to such a degree that a tidy nature/culture dualism is no longer possible.

The four guarantees of the modern constitution for Latour are: (a) that nature (i.e. things, objects) is “transcendent”, or universal in time and space; there to be discovered; (b) that society (the subject, the state) is “immanent”, i.e. it is continually constructed “artificially” by citizens or by subjects; (c) that “translation networks” between these first two realms are “banned”, i.e. the “separation of powers” of these realms is “assured”; (d) that a “crossed out God” acts as “arbitrator” of this dualism.

"[4]Latour challenges the traditional understanding of the economy as a purely objective, quantitative, and value-free science in the book.

He believes that this view fails to consider the relationships between humans and nonhumans, and argues that traditional economic measures value solely in terms of economic growth and productivity, ignoring the increasing social and ecological costs of these activities, such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and cultural loss.