Actor-Network Theory

Actor–network theory (ANT) began at the end of the 1970s as an attempt to account for scientific activity without distinguishing a priori between its so-called social and technical aspects. The concept of actor–network captures the idea that for any actor to act, many others must act as well. In other words, action is shared with a multitude of people and things – for, indeed, things play a part in our collective lives. Actors, whether individual or collective, whether human or not, are therefore a mystery whose constitution must be explained; they are not at all the obvious starting point of action. Those few premises have had a significant impact on some organizational communication scholars, in particular those interested in interorganizational networks and partnerships, in questions of agency, or in the ability of communication to constitute organizations