Actor Network Theory

Actor-network theory (ANT) is an approach to social theory and research, originating in the field of science studies, which treats objects as part of social networks - wikipedia

Actor-network Theory can more technically be described as a Material-semiotic Method.

Latour is one of the primary developers of Actor Network Theory, a constructionist approach influenced by the Ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel, the generative semiotics of Algirdas Julien Greimas, and (more recently) the sociology of Émile Durkheim's rival Gabriel Tarde.

Although it is best known for its controversial insistence on the capacity of nonhumans to act or participate in systems or networks or both, ANT is also associated with forceful critiques of conventional and critical sociology.

These networks are potentially transient, existing in a constant making and re-making. This means that relations need to be repeatedly performed or the network will dissolve.

They also assume that networks of relations are not intrinsically coherent, and may indeed contain conflicts. Social relations, in other words, are only ever in process, and must be performed continuously.

This use of the term "network" is very similar to Deleuze and Guattari's Rhizomes; Latour even remarks tongue in cheek that he would have no objection to renaming ANT "actant-rhizome ontology" if it only had sounded better, which hints at Latour's uneasiness with the word "theory".