Actor-Network Theory

Actor-Network Theory
by Sarah Knowlton

 MAIN POINTS 

Actor Network Theory (ANT), was created with the help from sociologists Michel Callon, John Law, and Bruno Latour. Actor Network Theory is a social theory in which all objects, human and nonhuman, are all essential parts of a network. In order for a network to be successful, all parts, or objects, are needed to make the network work. These objects include both human and nonhuman objects. An example of Actor Network Theory is a social networking site; the human objects in this network would be the people who are participating and using these social networking sites and the people who create and run the websites. The nonhuman objects would be the internet, the computers, mobile devices, etc. All of the objects are necessary in order to make the network succeed as a whole. Actor Network Theory does not describe exactly why it exists, but rather the different parts of the network and the structure of it.

 KEY FIGURES 

Michel Callon (b. 1945)

Bruno Latour (b. 1947)

John Law  (b. 1946)

 KEY TEXTS 

Latour, Bruno. 2005. ''Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory''. Oxford University Press.

 REFERENCES (using AAA Style Guide)

Latour, Bruno. 2005.''Reassembling the Social. An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory''. Oxford University Press.