Actor-network theory

Murdoch, Jonathan. (1997). Inhuman/nonhuman/human actor-network theory and the prospects for a non-dualistic and symmetrical perspective on nature and society. Environment and Planning D Society and Space 15 137. 

Latour, Bruno. (2005). Reassembling the Social An Introduction to Actor-Network-theory. Oxford Oxford University Press. 

The analogy with sides of coins suggests a symmetry between the social and the technical, and that they should each be treated in the same way. This is the method of actor-network theory , in which non-human artefacts and humans are regarded alike as actants in the same sociotechnical realm.5... 

At the same time as attributing human capacities to non-human objects, the accounts of actor-network theory strip human actors of important aspects of their agency. What counts as an actant is an effect generated by a network of heterogeneous, interacting materials (Law, 1992, p383, emphasis in original) and... 

For various perspectives on actor-network theory see Law and Hassard (1999). 

Law, J. and Hassard, J. (1999) Actor Network Theory andAfler, Blackwell, Oxford Levinson, P. (1988) Mind at large Knowing in the technological age , Research in Philosophy and Technology, supplement 2... 

Williams-Jones B, Graham JE. Actor-network theory a tool to support ethical analysis of commercial genetic testing. New Genetics and Society 2003 22 271-296. 

In order to learn more about the network in which Laurentia Dombrowski enjoyed a central position, I would like to turn to the actor network theory by Latour. In the relationship between Sister Laurentia and Miss Riese, the letters were very central non-human actants, and even more the atmosphere conveyed by the words, as Laurentia herself mentioned whenever such a wonderful letter from you arrives, I would love to sit dovm right away and answer it with a warm echo . From the first more formal letters, the language of the two correspondents increasingly took up a figurative style and special combination of practical and emotional affairs, objective and subjective aspects, which might have been instrumental in stimulating the women to continue in the exchange of their ideas. 

Latour, B. (1996) On Actor Network Theory - a few clarifications. Soziale Welt 47 (4), 369-381. 

Noe, E. and Alroe, H.F. (2006) Combining Luhmann and Actor-Network Theory to see farm enterprises as self-organizing systems. Cvbernetic and Human Knowing 13, 34-48. 

One of the most prevalent theories in the collection comes from Actor Network Theory. ANT is not a framework that can be applied to the field of study rather it is a method for analysing data that allows the actors to express themselves. The network is not simply a series of connections but of flows making ANT a particularly useful theory for situations when changes are occurring rapidly or where boundaries are fuzzy. Analysis favours thick description rather than explanation, the network is not the object of the description it is the description as the story unfolds, actors themselves make everything, their own frames, their own theories, their own contexts, their own meta physics, even their own ontology (Latour, 2005). 

Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the Social an Introduction to Actor Network Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 

Harty, C. (2008) Implementing innovation in construction Contexts, relative boundedness and actor-network theory. Construction Management and Economics, 26,1029-1041. 

See chapter 9 and the Glossary for a more detailed theoretical description of Actor Network Theory. 

However, beyond the similarities with Law, Galison takes a stand regarding Actor-Network Theory (ANT) ... 

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) deals with the networks of relations which define and enable entities to present themselves in the world (Latour, 1993). It rejects the human/nonhuman distinction all phenomena possibly encountered in the world are part of networks of relations between actants. Both humans and nonhumans have agency in processes that translate interests and build or disrupt material relationships. In this way actants are defined by their existence within networks, rather than by essential properties intrinsic to themselves. The power held by any one actant is not a property inherent to them but is determined by the control or influence they have over the networks in which they are enlisted. Humans and nonhumans are intricately bound up and defined within networks of relations and the way things are experienced and the way we come to know reality is manifest from these networks of sociotechnical relations (Latour, 1987 2005). 

Gonsalves, F. A. Figueiredo, J. (2010) How to recognize an Immutable Mobile when you find one Translations on innovation and design. International Journal of Actor Network Theory and Technological Innovation, 2 (2), 39-53. 

Actor network theory provides a way of describing social interactions in a technical context in which actors can be people or inanimate objects created to influence human behaviour (Latoui 2005). 

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