Sociological Factors of Surgeons’ Professional Reputation Management (ANT Perspective)

The digital society, shaped by the Internet environment, has simplified individuals interactions by increasing information openness and reducing the costs associated with peripherality. As a result, traditional hierarchical social structures, such as the pyramid, are increasingly replaced by rhizomatic networks. These shifts have profound implications for social management, as professional reputation, which serves the base of credibility, transitions from a closed phenomenon to a critical determinant of success for both individuals and their organizations. This study offers a new framework for analyzing the professional reputations of surgeons, integrating methodology of the theory of cities (L. Boltanski, L. Thévenot, and E. Chiapello) and actor-network theory (J. Law). The study identifies that a surgeon’s professional reputation is a compromise among three value hierarchies —Reputation, Market, and Industrial—and explores how these factors manifest within both physical (“Euclidean”) and social spaces.