The not so basic Actor-Network Theory…

And the theory begins.

Im going to begin by apologising in advance for this blog post. Although I managed to get through this week’s readings, I can honestly say that I was left a little confused, and hopefully I am not the only one.

This so called ‘actor-network theory’ is a sociological theory developed by sociologists Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and John Law that not only contains people, but objects and organisations as well which we would refer to as ‘actors’. What I was able to gather from the readings is that this theory (ANT) in in fact based on the idea of networks and the relations between the social and technical elements that exist within that network. What most of us may be unaware of is that this Actor-network theory can in fact be applied to our daily routines. For example, when we attend lectures at uni, the actor network that exists would include the students and the lecturer, as well as particular objects including the projector screen, the computer/lector and computer software, the microphone, notebooks, overhead projectors, pens and seats (to name a few).

What this theory aims to prove is that “any actor, whether person, object (including computer software, hardware, and technical standards), or organization, is equally important to a social network” in maintaining societal order. (Wade, M. 2005). What this means is that in order to maintain social order, all actors and relations must be continuously performed to avoid these networks from falling apart and dissolving. Another example would be at a train station. In order to ensure the smooth running of this network, trains would need to be operating on time, drivers would need to come to work and computers need to keep running. Here is a more complex look at the actor-network of trains.

Actor Network - Trains

Overall, ANT has proven to be quite a distinctive approach to social theory, but at the same time has faced criticism over-time and is constantly being questioned as a learning theory as it fails to consider the aspect of power amongst organisations/networks as well as HOW such networks are in fact created.

I came across this video that helps demonstrate the basics of such a complex theory.

It is quite obvious that my understanding of this concept is still a little unclear, but hopefully discussion in class will clear this up!