The analytic rewards of materializing the effects of actor-networks

Abstract

Objects, documents, and concepts play a central role in everyday practice but are often overlooked as active agents in the formation of the social world. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is a sociological method that helps make visible what humans and nonhumans in association do or accomplish. It is an analytical approach that examines how human and nonhuman entities co-construct dynamic and influential networks of associations, and the effects produced as a result of these networks. This paper provides an introduction to ANT, illustrates its application through a case example, and concludes with a description of its analytic rewards.