Actor-Network Theory is a theoretical and methodological approach in the field of social sciences.
It treats actors, which can include both humans and non-human entities, as nodes in a network of constantly changing actions and agencies. This perspective is key to understanding the social and natural world. In the context of the History of Technology, even technology can be considered an actor.
Rather than being a theory that is applied, it is more of a means or approach to understanding social phenomena.
It has deep connections with Science and Technology Studies and is related to concepts such as science and technology.
According to Bruno Latour, the field of “sociology of social things” tends to rely too heavily on concepts such as “society,” “power,” “structure,” “context,” “capitalism,” “empire,” “norms,” and “individualism” for easy explanations. These concepts provide quick explanations in sociology, but Latour believes that they simply fit reality and phenomena into pre-existing frameworks without truly revealing the nature of the subject. Society is not as simple as these words make it seem. When conducting research in fields such as organizational studies, information theory, marketing, science and technology studies, and management, relying solely on these concepts often leads to limited success.