What is Actor-Network Theory: various ANT definitions

The possibility of applying the actor-network theory and its methodology to different disciplines and fields of study is evident by the many senses in which it has been used.

The What is Actor-Network Theory? site provides various definitions.

These and many other colors and flavors of ANT represent a very divers scope of its usage and applicability. Here are two definitions that are particularly interesting:

"from Michael Callon
ANT is based on no stable theory of the actor; in other words, it assumes the radical indeterminacy of the actor. For example, neither the actor's size nor its psychological make-up nor the motivations behind its actions are predetermined. In this respect ANT is a break from the more orthodox currents of social science. This hypothesis (which Brown and Lee equate to political ultra-liberalism) has, as we well know, opened the social sciences to non-humans."

"from Bernd Frohmann
ANT's rich methodology embraces scientific realism, social constructivism, and discourse analysis in its central concept of hybrids, or "quasi-objects", that are simultaneously real, social, and discursive. Developed as an analysis of scientific and technological artifacts, ANT's theoretical richness derives from its refusal to reduce explanations to either natural, social, or discursive categories while recognizing the significance of each (see, e.g. Latour 1993, 91). Following the work of Hughes, ANT insists that "the stability and form of artifacts should be seen as a function of the interaction of heterogeneous elements as these are shaped and assimilated into a network" (Law 1990, 113)."

If you visit the site (What is Actor-Network Theory?) you may find other definitions pertinent to your field of study.

Related readings:
Actor-Network Theory

Actor-Network Theory and Managing Knowledge