Actor-network theory is a sociological approach that views both social and technical elements as integral parts of a network. It was developed in the 1980s by scholars including John Law, Michel Callon, and Bruno Latour. A key concept is that an actor network includes not just people but also objects and organizations that act within the network. Actor-network theory proposes three main principles: generalized symmetry between human and non-human actors, agnosticism toward various interpretations, and the idea that relationships freely associate actors into a network. Critics argue it fails to account for human-specific attributes like intentionality or pre-existing social structures.

1. ACTOR
NETWORK
THEORY
Presented By:
Umer Ikram

2.  Pioneered in the 1980s
• John Law
• Michel Callon
• Bruno Latour
The term "Actor network theory" was
devised by Michel Callon in 1982.
(Latour, 2004; Latour & Woolgar, 1986;
Law J., 2007)

3.  Actor-Network Theory is a theoretical and methodological
approach that sees all social phenomena as the product of
network interactions.
 It states that people, together with their technologies, comprise
social networks.
 An actor network is “the act linked together with all of its
influencing factors in building a network” (Suchman, 1987;
Hanseth and Monteiro,1998)

4. It is distinguished from other network theories in that an actor-
network contains not merely people but objects and organizations.
These are collectively referred to as actors, or sometimes as
actants.

5.  “An actor in ANT is a semiotic definition – an actant – that is “something that acts, or
to which activity is granted by another”…an actant can literally be anything provided it
is granted to be the source of action” (Latour 1996, p.373; see also Callon & Latour
1981, p.286).
 ANT argues that both humans and non-humans actors be understood within a
network wherein their identity is defined through their interaction with other actors,
networks are thus systems of relations

6. THE BASIC
ASSUMPTIONS
OF ACTOR-
NETWORK-
THEORY (ANT)
 Actor-network theory declares that the
world is full of hybrid entities (Latour 1993)
 It is necessary to include non-human
actors in sociological explanations of
action and structure
 There exists a relation between actors
that forms a network
 In performing this relationship, actors are
transformed as is the meaning or force
that is transported

7. Actor-network theory has three main
principles:
 Generalized symmetry
 Agnosticism
 Free association

8. GENERALIZ
ED
SYMMETRY
 According to this view no distinction between
human and non-human actors should be made.
Both should be analysed in the same terms
without making any discrimination (Callon, 1986;
Law, 1986c; Law, 1987). In so doing, this principle
maintains that both human and non-human actors
have the ability to take actions, and can be anyone
or anything (Law, 1986a).

9.  the principle of ‘agnosticism’ suggests that
the observer of the actor network, needs
to be impartial, and requires that all
interpretations be unprivileged. This
principle requires researchers to
systematically avoid censoring any
interpretation provided by the actors
studied when they speak about
themselves or other actors (Callon, 1986)

10. FREE
ASSOCIATIO
N
 The third principle of actor-network theory
is free association, which advocates for
abandoning any distinction between
natural and social phenomenon.
 The principle of ‘free association’ requires
the abandonment of all a priori
relationships that could be assumed to
exist between human and non-human
actors (Callon, 1986).

11.  Critics of actor-network theory, such as Langdon Winner, have argued that certain
properties, such as the ability to be intentional in one's actions, separate humans from
animals and "things.“
 It denies the fact that only humans can transform society
 Other critics have argued that ANT may imply that all actors are of equal importance in
the network. This critique holds that ANT does not account for pre-existing structures,
such as power, race, gender etc
 One of the vehement attack includes accusations of a return to hylozoism (the belief
that inanimate objects are alive).

12. Thanks