Actor-Network Theory – Blog Post
Everything relies on something else to make it work. But what does that something rely on? The actor-network theory looks into the human and non-human components within a network and looks into how they relate to one another. It is important to remember that both the human and non-human factors in these networks have an equal impact on something. In actor-network studies, these human and non-human factors are referred to as the actants therefore ‘an actant is anything that makes a difference in a situation.’ (Bencherki, 2017, p.2).
It is also important to remember that actor-networks are always changing due to growth and advances constantly being made in the digital world as ‘The expansion of digitality has enormously increased the material dimension of networks: the more digital, the less virtual and the more material a given activity becomes’ (Latour, 2010, p.8). As more advances are made with technology as well as new ways that it can be used, the more the actor-network will grow.
To listen to a seminar given by Bruno Latour, one of the original theorists of Actor-Network theory, in 2010 discussing the actor-network theory, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7EDMRJrbU&t=862s
Let’s look at an actor-network through an example, CDs. The obvious connections made to this may include the artists, producers and the records labels involved in the production of a CD. However, the network for making a CD is much greater than just this. For example, the CD has to be given to a distributor and transported to get to retailers where it reaches audiences. Disks also have to be manufactured which involves the use of plastics and aluminium that are sourced from raw material or recycling companies.
Below is a small part of an actor-network chart for a CD. This is a good model to show how the human and non-human actants that go into making a CD are equally important. It is also important to remember that any ‘apparent […] single actor is already a network of many others that act as well’ (Bencherki, 2017, p.2) and will have its own actor-network behind it. Actor-network charts are a useful tool to visualise these networks, however, they are not the only way actor networks can be studied.
References –
Bencherki, N. (2017)/ Actor-Network Theory. International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, 1, 1-20.
Latour, B. (2010). Networks, Societies, Spheres: reflections of an actor-network theorist. Science Po.
Pixabay. (2021). CD. https://pixabay.com/vectors/dvd-music-disk-compact-disc-cd-34919/
YouTube. (2010). International Seminar on Network Theory Keynote – Bruno Latour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7EDMRJrbU&t=862s
