Transfer or translation? The actor-network theory approach to the social impact of science

This chapter views the “Periclean Building Program” through the lens of Actor Network Theory, in order to explore the ways in which the construction of these buildings transformed Athenian society and politics in the fifth century BC. It begins by applying some Actor Network Theory concepts to the process that was involved in getting approval for the building program as described by Thucydides and Plutarch in his Life of Pericles. Actor Network Theory blends entanglement (human-material thing interdependence) with network thinking, so it allows us to reframe our views to include social networks when we think about the political debate and social tensions in Athens that arose from Pericles’s proposal to construct the Parthenon and Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis, the Telesterion at Eleusis, the Odeon at the base of the South slope of the Acropolis, and the long wall to Peiraeus. Social Network Analysis can model the social networks, and the clusters within them, that existed in mid-fifth century Athens. By using Social Network Analysis we can then show how the construction work itself transformed a fractious city into a harmonious one through sustained, collective efforts that engaged large numbers of lower class citizens, all responding to each other’s needs in a chaine operatoire..

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Uncertainties Revisited

Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology - Analytical Frameworks, Applications, and Impacts of ICT and Actor-Network Theory ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7027-1.ch010 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 216-237

Author(s):

Liesbeth Huybrechts ◽

Katrien Dreessen ◽

Selina Schepers

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Social Processes ◽

Actor Network ◽

Uncertainty Model ◽

The Social ◽

Matters Of Concern ◽

Uncertainty Models ◽

Do So

In this chapter, the authors use actor-network theory (ANT) to explore the relations between uncertainties in co-design processes and the quality of participation. To do so, the authors investigate Latour's discussion uncertainties in relation to social processes: the nature of actors, actions, objects, facts/matters of concern, and the study of the social. To engage with the discussion on uncertainties in co-design and, more specific in infrastructuring, this chapter clusters the diversity of articulations of the role and place of uncertainty in co-design into four uncertainty models: (1) the neoliberal, (2) the management, (3) the disruptive, and (4) the open uncertainty model. To deepen the reflections on the latter, the authors evaluate the relations between the role and place of uncertainty in two infrastructuring processes in the domain of healthcare and the quality of these processes. In the final reflections, the authors elaborate on how ANT supported in developing a “lens” to assess how uncertainties hinder or contribute to the quality of participation.

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Actor-Network Theory and Autopoiesis

Handbook of Research on Knowledge-Intensive Organizations ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-176-6.ch005 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 67-79

Author(s):

Lars Steiner

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Social Theory ◽

Network Theory ◽

Process Analysis ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Actor Network ◽

Research And Innovation ◽

The Social ◽

Knowledge Intensive ◽

Over Time

A new knowledge management perspective and tool, ANT/AUTOPOIESIS, for analysis of knowledge management in knowledge-intensive organizations is presented. An information technology (IT) research and innovation co-operation between university actors and companies interested in the area of smart home IT applications is used to illustrate analysis using this perspective. Actor-network theory (ANT) and the social theory of autopoiesis are used in analyzing knowledge management, starting from the foundation of a research co-operation. ANT provides the character of relations between actors and actants, how power is translated by actors and the transformation of relations over time. The social theory of autopoiesis provides the tools to analyze organizational closure and reproduction of organizational identity. The perspective used allows a process analysis, and at the same time analysis of structural characteristics of knowledge management. Knowledge management depends on powerful actors, whose power changes over time. Here this power is entrepreneurial and based on relations and actors’ innovation knowledge.

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Beyond ANT

European Journal of Social Theory ◽

10.1177/1368431016646506 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 199-215 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Till Jansen

Keyword(s):

Social Relations ◽

Network Theory ◽

Fundamental Problem ◽

Human Agency ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Actor Network ◽

Theoretical Design ◽

The Social ◽

Actor Networks

Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) offers an ‘infra-language’ of the social that allows one to trace social relations very dynamically, while at the same time dissolving human agency, thus providing a flat and de-centred way into sociology. However, ANT struggles with its theoretical design that may lead us to reduce agency to causation and to conceptualize actor-networks as homogeneous ontologies of force. This article proposes to regard ANT’s inability to conceptualize reflexivity and the interrelatedness of different ontologies as the fundamental problem of the theory. Drawing on Günther, it offers an ‘infra-language’ of reflexive relations while maintaining ANT’s de-centred approach. This would enable us to conceptualize actor-networks as non-homogeneous, dynamic and connecting different societal rationales while maintaining the main strengths of ANT.

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The researcher-initiated autobiography’s work as an actant in producing knowledge about the social

Qualitative Research ◽

10.1177/1468794118760748 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 311-322

Author(s):

Jorid Krane Hanssen

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Family Members ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Actor Network ◽

The Social ◽

Emotional Effects

This article addresses how a researcher-initiated autobiography’s work as an actant may offer illuminating insights into how we as humans and nonhumans are associated in networks. The aim is to discuss how the effects of these associations produce knowledge about the social. With inspiration from actor-network theory and by using an example of a researcher-initiated autobiography from the study ‘The Daughters and Sons of Rainbow Families’, the discussion firstly concentrates on how associations between the autobiography and the researcher may produce emotional effects. Secondly, the discussion focuses on how a researcher-initiated autobiography works as an actant ‘in itself’. This indicates the necessity to trace associations between the written events (actants) in the text, and discuss their effects. As an example, the article addresses how associations between written events concerning family members, produce knowledge about the relations between the members.

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Using critical realism in critical accounting research – a commentary by two ANTs

Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal ◽

10.1108/aaaj-09-2019-4164 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 655-665 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jane Baxter ◽

Wai Fong Chua

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Critical Realism ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Actor Network ◽

Content Type ◽

Accounting Research ◽

Methodological Choices ◽

Critical Realist ◽

The Social

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Modell’s arguments regarding the relative usefulness of critical realist philosophy in relation to actor-network theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors outline the challenges in applying critical realism to critical accounting. The authors then consider Modell’s criticisms of actor-network theory, providing a counterargument highlighting the methodological choices distinguishing actor-network theory from critical realism.FindingsThe authors argue that critical realism, whilst providing an interesting addition to the critical accounting research project, confronts challenges disentangling intransitive and transitive forms of knowledge. Actor-network theory is presented as a way of examining accounting practices as local associations, providing practical opportunities to study (the assembly of) “the social”.Research limitations/implicationsMethodological diversity is to be explored, acknowledging the ontological politics of our choices.Originality/valueThis paper is an original commentary contributing to critical accounting research.

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