Susan Leigh Star (1954–2010) was an American scholar of science and technology studies, sociology, and information science. Her work on boundary objects, infrastructure, and the politics of classification has shaped how scholars understand information systems.
Core ideas
- Boundary objects: things that different communities of practice can use and interpret in ways that satisfy their own needs, while maintaining enough shared identity to enable collaboration across communities. Star introduced this concept with James Griesemer in 1989.
- Classification and its consequences: with Geoffrey Bowker, Star showed that classification systems are moral and political technologies — they define what exists, what counts, and who is visible. The International Classification of Diseases, nursing classification systems, and apartheid-era racial categories all embed power relations in their structure (Bowker & Star, 1999).
- Infrastructure and invisibility: infrastructure is invisible to those it works for and becomes visible only at moments of breakdown. Star argued for studying infrastructure ethnographically — examining who it serves, who it excludes, and what work is required to maintain it.
Notable works
- Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences (1999, with Geoffrey Bowker)
- “Institutional Ecology, ‘Translations’ and Boundary Objects” (1989, with James Griesemer)
- “The Ethnography of Infrastructure” (1999)
Related
- Geoffrey Bowker — her primary collaborator on classification
- faceted classification — one type of classification system she analyzed
Bowker, G. C., & Star, S. L. (1999). Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. MIT Press.