Actor–network theory (ANT) is rooted in science and technology studies. As a method for in-depth research it has now been used in other areas of science as well. ANT focuses on the connections that are being made and remade between human and non-human entities that are part of the issue at stake.
Thus inherent to ANT is a move away from the idea that technology impacts on humans as an external force, to the view that technology emerged from social interests (e.g. economic, professional) and that it thus has the potential to shape social interactions
ANT seeks to define and describe the relational connections both human and non-human actants within a network or assembelage by placing the network on a flat ontology.
ANT gives equal amount of value and agency to the actants of the network.
E.g:
Facebook social network;
→ actants or actors are PC, mobile phone, or tables…These components have the same amount of agency, and are as important to the network as the people whose communication they support.
All assembelages are comprised of actants and all actants are assembelages within themselves.
E.g
Birthday cake;
→ actants of the birthday cake are sugar, food paint, flour, paste. They come together and constitute the birthday cake which we call assembelage or the network. And any of the components has also their own assembelage like sugar whose actants are farmers, plant foods, etc… This situation can be detailed to atomic level. So, where should we stop while using the ANT? Sismondo
actor is the cause of the action regardless of it is human or non-human entity. actors can be humans, things, ideas, concepts.
An actor is the crucial element of the network. To name it as a network, the ingredients in the group should have specific associations with each other. The critical activity of Actor-Network-Theory is tracing the relationship between the actors. So, the technology and its ingredients become part of that network. In a sense, Latour proposes to remove the wall between technology and society. The technological artifact becomes one of the actors in the network. Do you think Latour discards technological determinism completely, or does he leave the door open for more discussion? Latour
reference: w8-Latour,Reassembling the Social