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Strengths And Weaknesses Of Actor Network Theory

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It is without questionable doubt that Actor Network Theory (ANT) is a very hotly contested and debated theory within the sociological framework, but that is not to say that ANT does not play an important role in substantiating our knowledge of the relationship between technology and society, between man and machine. There is no doubt that in the modern capitalist societies that we live in today, there is an ever evolving and ever present relationship between technology and society, and ANT allows us to look at this relationship with some differing concepts to that of STS, SCOT, etc. But, although ANT gives us a unique insight into some areas of this relationship, it also has some fundamental weaknesses, causing ANT to be contested in terms of its validity as a theory, and it being a more methodological approach. In this essay, I will give a brief description of what ANT is, I then intend to critically evaluate both the strengths and weaknesses of ANT using both key theorists and case studies to support my analysis, hopefully giving a more informatics understanding of ANT in the process. Actor Network Theory (ANT) is the study of the relationship between science and technology. It is considered to be a close relative to that of the social construction approach to this study but, most importantly, it brings the technology back in. It is based on three key principles, Agnosticism, generalised symmetry and free association. These three principles, in short, means that there is

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