Actor-network theory
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Actor-network theory, sometimes abbreviated to ANT is a social science approach for describing and explaining social, organisational, scientific and technological structures, processes and events. It assumes, controversially, that all the components of such structures (whether these are human or otherwise) form a network of relations that can be mapped and described in the same terms or vocabulary.
Developed by two leading French STS scholars, Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, British sociologist John Law, and others, it can more technically be described as a 'material-semiotic' method. This means that it maps relations that are simultaneously material (between things) and 'semiotic' (between concepts). It assumes that many relations are both material and 'semiotic' (for instance the interactions in a bank involve both people and their ideas, and computers. Together these form a single network).
ANT tries to explain how material-semiotic networks come together to act as a whole. In the ANT approach, for instance, a bank is both a network and an actor that hangs together, and for certain purposes acts as a single entity. As a part of this it may look at explicit strategies for relating different elements together into a network so that they form an apparently coherent whole.
ANT scholars also assume, however, that such actor-networks are potentially precarious. Relations need to be repeatedly 'performed' or the network will dissolve. (So, for instance, the bank clerks need to come to work each day, and the computers need to keep on running.) In addition they also assume that networks of relations are not intrinsically coherent, and may indeed contain conflicts (for instance, there may be poor labour relations, or computer software may be incompatible).
Although it is called a "theory" ANT does not usually explain why a network takes the form that it does. It is much more interested in exploring how actor-networks get formed, hold themselves together, or fall apart.
The approach is related to other versions of material-semiotics (and notably the work of philosopher Michel Foucault and feminist technoscience scholar Donna Haraway). It can also be seen as a way of being faithful to the insights of ethnomethodology.
As noted above, it assumes that all the elements in a network, human and non-human, can and should be described in the same terms. This is called the principle of generalized symmetry. The rationale for this is that differences between them are generated in the network of relations, and should not be presupposed.
Like other perspectives in social science, ANT draws on a range of different philosophical resources, some of which are relatively esoteric. It talks, for instance, of Actants to denote human and non-human actors, and assumes that the actors in a network take the shape that they do by virtue of their relations with one another. It assumes that nothing lies outside the network of relations, and as noted above, suggests that there is no difference in the ability of technology, humans, animals, or other non-humans to act (and that there are only enacted alliances.) It further notes that as soon as an actor engages with an actor-network it too is caught up in the web of relations, and becomes part of the 'entelechy'. Some of these terms are explained below.
ANT is used by scholars in the interdisciplinary field known as Science and technology studies which is where it was developed. It is also used in sociology, feminist studies, Organizational studies and geography. Broadly speaking, it is a constructivist approach in that it avoids essentialist explanations of events or innovations (for example, explaining a successful theory by saying it is 'true' and the others are 'false'). However, it is distinguished from many other STS and sociological network theories in that, as noted above, an actor-network contains not only people, but also material objects, non-humans, and organisations.
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Background and Context
ANT was first developed at the Centre de Sociologie de L'Innovation (CSI) of the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris in the early 1980s by staff (Michel Callon and Bruno Latour) and visitors (including John Law). Initially created in an attempt to understand processes of innovation and knowledge-creation in science and technology, the approach drew on existing work in STS, on studies of large technological systems (see Large Technical System), and on a range of French intellectual resources including the semiotics of Algirdas Julien Greimas, the writing of philosopher Michel Serres, and the Annales School of history.
In retrospect it is easy to see that ANT reflects many of the preoccupations of French Post-structuralism, and in particular a concern with non-foundational and multiple materal-semiotic relations. At the same time, it was much more firmly embedded in English-language academic traditions than most post-structuralist-influenced approaches. Its grounding in (predominantly English) STS was reflected in an intense commitment to the development of theory through qualitative empirical case-studies, and its links with (largely US) work on large technical systems were reflected in its willingness to analyse large scale technological developments in an even-handed manner to include political, organisational, legal, technical and scientific factors.
Many of the characteristic ANT tools (including the notions of translation, generalized symmetry and the 'heterogeneous network'), together with a scientometric tool for mapping innovations in science and technology ('co-word analysis') were initially developed during the 1980s, predominantly in and around the CSI. The 'state of the art' of ANT in the late 1980s is well-described in Latour's 1987 text, Science in Action Template:Ref.
From about 1990 onwards ANT started to become popular as a tool for analysis in a range of fields beyond STS. It was picked up and developed by authors in parts of organisational analysis, informatics, health studies, geography, sociology, anthropology, and economics. Some such adoptions were relatively uncritical, but others were not, and the development of ANT through the 1990s reveals traces of its dialogues with related approaches, including especially feminist STS, geography, and anthropology.
In 2006 ANT is a widespread if controversial range of material-semiotic approaches for the analysis of heterogeneous relations. In part because of its popularity, it is interpreted and used in a wide range of alternative and sometimes incompatible ways. There is no orthodoxy in current ANT, and different authors use the approach in substantially different ways. Some authors talk of 'after-ANT' to refer to 'successor projects' that blend together (for instance) the insights of feminist material-semiotics (including a concern with embodiment and political commitment) with those of ANT.Template:Ref
Concepts
The Heterogenous Network
The primary tenet of actor-network theory is the concept of the heterogenous network. This is a network of materially heterogeneous actors that is achieved by a great deal of work that both shapes those various social and non-social elements, and "disciplines" them so that they work together, instead of "making off on their own."Template:Ref For example, 16th century Portuguese navigation successfully combined improved sailing vessels, the magnetic compass, knowledge of trade winds, and a new method for the astronomical determination of latitude. The result was a "durable network" that was capable of resisting hostile forces, including currents, winds, and Muslim navigators.Template:Ref
From an ANT perspective, everything in social life can be seen as the result of successfully negotiated networks. When buying produce from a supermarket, for example, the actor-network involved would include the purchaser and the cashier, as well as the cash register, the money and the produce involved. It would also include other less obvious objects, such as the clothes the purchaser wears, without which they would most likely not be served, and the electricity supply that lights the supermarket and powers the tills. The task of trying to identify all of the heterogeneous elements in an actor-network is endless. In principle the network reaches out indefinitely. In practice, therefore, researchers need to decide where to stop - and which parts of the network they wish to explore.
Actor-network theory claims that in principle all actors, whether these be persons, objects (including computer software, hardware, and technical standards), naturally occurring phenomema (for instance the trade winds), animals, texts, or organisations, are equally important to the network of relations. Differences between such actors, their characteristics, and their relative importance, are all generated within the web of relations. Actor-network theory maps the processes of heterogeneous interaction that generate such differences, including differences in power. Power, then, is a product or an effect of networks of relations. It does not explain them. Similarly societal order is a series of effects generated in and through the heterogeneous web of relations. Social order, or more accurately orderings of the 'social', are being done and re-done in those webs, and can break down when certain actor-networks are removed or are rearticulated. For example, the removal of telephones, banks or the president may all result in significant break-downs in social order.
The Overlapping Stages of ANT
1. Inscription
Technology embodies the beliefs, practices, relations etc of the society it emerges from
2. Translation
When the actor-network is actually created, and when actors other than the primary actor become involved. A powerful actor is able to translate another's interests to his own. This is the stage when negotiation takes place.
3. Framing
As the key issues and debates are resolved within a network, technologies can become stabilised over time.
The concept of translation
Central to ANT is the concept of translation, in which innovators attempt to create a forum, a central network in which all the actors agree that the network is worth building and defending. In his widely debated 1986 study of how marine biologists try to restock the St Brieuc Bay in order to produce more scallops,Template:Ref, Michel Callon has defined 4 moments of translation. These four moments are derived from studying :
1. Problematisation
What is the problem that needs to be solved? Who are the relevant actors? Delegates need to be identified that will represent groups of actors. So, a union head represents workers or an MP represents his constituency. During problematisation, the primary actor tries to establish itself as an obligatory passage point (OPP) between the other actors and the network, so that it becomes indispensable.
2. Interessement
Getting the actors interested and negotiating the terms of their involvement. The primary actor works to convince the other actors that the roles it has defined them are acceptable.
3. Enrolment
Actors accept the roles that have been defined for them during interessement
4. Mobilisation of allies
Do the delegate actors in the network adequately represent the masses? If so, enrolment becomes active support.
Punctualisation
If taken to its logical conclusion, nearly any actor can be considered merely a sum of other, smaller actors. An automobile is an example of a complex system. It contains many electronic and mechanical components, all of which are essentially hidden from view to the driver, who simply deals with the car as a single object. This effect is known as punctualisation, and is similar to the idea of abstraction in object-oriented programming.
When an actor network breaks down, the punctualisation effect tends to cease as well. In the automobile example above, a non-working engine would cause the driver to become aware of the car as a collection of parts rather than just a vehicle capable of transporting him or her from place to place. This can also occur when elements of a network act contrarily to the network as a whole. In his 'Pandora's Hope' Latour likens depunctualization to the opening of Pandora's box.
Tokens/Quasi-Objects
In the above examples, 'social order' and 'functioning car' come into being through the successful interactions of their respective actor-networks, and actor-network theory refers these creations as tokens or quasi-objects which are passed between actors within the network.
As the token is increasingly transmitted or passed through the network, it becomes increasingly punctualized and also increasingly reified. When the token is decreasingly transmitted, or when an actor fails to transmit the token (e.g., the oil pump breaks), punctualization and reification are decreased as well.
Applications
Actor-Network Theory is useful in the exploration of why technologies, scientific theories, and/or social endeavors succeed or fail as the direct result of changes in their network integrity. In such an analysis, the technology or theory is positioned as the token.
In an early example of ANT entitled 'Aramis: The Love of Technology,' Latour described the crumbling of a network as the reason for failure of a particular technology (point-to-point public transport). Most often used to describe the demise of a quasi-object, ANT can also be used to examine how some quasi-objects (e.g. evolution, gravity, social norms) have been extremely successful due to their robust networks.
Criticism
Much of the controversy surrounding actor-network theory is caused by its lack of distinction between people and objects. A commonly held view is that people are fundamentally different from animals, and also fundamentally different from objects. However, although only humans can purposely act, their actions are strongly influenced by non-human actors. In addition, bringing nonhuman actors into the picture helps ANT avoid the exaggerated and highly criticized epistemological relativism (see Science wars) that is often associated with constructivist theories, especially those inspired by the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK).
ANT has also been criticised as amoral. Bijker has responded to this criticim by stating that the amorality of ANT is not a necessity. Moral and political positions are possible, but one must first describe the network before taking up such positions.
Another criticism is that it suggests that all actors are equal within the network. It does not account for pre-existing structures, such as power, but instead sees these structures as emerging from the actions of actors within the network. Power emerges with the ability of an actor to align other actors to its interests. For this reason, ANT is sometimes seen as an attempt to re-introduce Whig history into science and technology studies; like the myth of the heroic inventor, ANT can be seen as an attempt to explain successful innovators by saying they were successful.
Case studies which use ANT are often highly descriptive, and can sometimes seem pointless to some critics. ANT (like historical studies) calls for judgement calls from the researcher as to what actors are important within a network, and which are not. Otherwise, it can be an endless process - six degrees of separation - we are all networked to one another - who are the most important in the construction of a particular technology?
In a workshop called "Actor Network and After", Bruno Latour was noted to say that there are four things wrong with actor-network theory: "actor", "network", "theory" and the hyphen. In a later book however (Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory), Latour reversed himself, accepting the wide use of the term. He also remarked how he had been helpfully reminded that the ANT acronym ‘was perfectly fit for a blind, myopic, workaholic, trail-sniffing, and collective traveler’ (the ant) – qualitative hallmarks of actor-network epistemology.
References
- Template:Note Michel Callon (1986). "Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay." In John Law (ed.), Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
- Template:Note Bruno Latour (1987). Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society (Milton Keynes: Open University Press).
- Bruno Latour (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
- Template:Note John Law and John Hassard (eds) (1999). Actor Network Theory and After (Oxford and Keele: Blackwell and the Sociological Review).
- Template:Note John Law (1992). "Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network: Ordering, Strategy, and Heterogeneity."
- Template:Note John Law (1987). "Technology and Heterogeneous Engineering: The Case of Portuguese Expansion." In W.E. Bijker, T.P. Hughes, and T.J. Pinch (eds.), The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
See also
- Callon, Michel
- Latour, Bruno
- Law, John
- Science studies
- Science and technology studies (STS)
- Social construction of technology (SCOT}
External links
STS and STS theory
Bibliographies
- John Law's actor-network theory resource
- John Law, Notes on the Theory of the Actor Network (web archive)