Week IV: Actor-Network Theory

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) refers to the relationship between the material and the semiotic and how they come together as a whole. In order to do so, ANT considers the contributions of both human and non-human ‘actants’ to be equal, thus creating a state of generalised symmetry. These actants are described as existing in a network; however, I found it more beneficial to consider these actants as part of a constantly shifting and evolving process that must be performed (delukie, 2009). Once this process stops growing and developing, the individual components can no longer interact and act out their roles, thus causing the entire network to disintegrate.

As with any theory, there has been critical analysis. The main criticism is that intentionality should not be given to non-human actants because that aspect is what distinguishes living beings from inanimate devices. ANT scholar’s response that non-human actants perform agency without intentionality undermines their concept of equal material-semiotic contribution. Sandra Harding in Banks (2011) brings up an interesting argument that through ANT’s equalising concept, social factors such as race, gender and class are considered irrelevant when in fact these qualities are incredibly influential. Thus ANT cannot explain or challenge phenomenon, it merely describes them.

Despite this, ANT is a social theory and research method that has been applied to various sociological fields to encourage new ways of thinking in areas such as politics, history, science and technology. It has also been useful to apply ANT to exploring identity and subjectivity, addiction, feminism, anthropology, economics, health studies and organisational analysis. The material-semiotic approach is highly flexible, therefore allowing various interpretations which allow such widespread application.

In publishing, ANT can be a useful framework for analysing different media, particularly how the relationship between technological advancements and developers has nurtured what publishing is in contemporary society. One example that springs to mind is radio, since it would not be possible for radio content to be published without radio presenters and sound engineers working with recording equipment to transmit messages across airwaves. Another is Twitter, where software developers created a program where individuals could publish short blogs, not expecting that it would evolve into a platform that facilitates debate and social change. The idea could similarly be applied to YouTube, where the creators couldn’t foresee how grassroots media producers could work with video content to establish new ways of information and entertainment dissemination. The possibilities are endless.

References:

‘Actor Network Theory’, Wikipedia, accessed 17 August 2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actornetwork_theory>.

Banks, D. (2011), ‘A Brief Summary of Actor-Network Theory’, Cyborgology,

2 November, accessed 17 August 2014, <http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2011/12/02/a-brief-summary-ofactor-network-theory/>.

delukie (2009) ’Actor-Network Theory in Plain English’, online video, Youtube.com, 16 November 2009, accessed 17 August 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YYxS6D-mI>.