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What are the theories about technology? Actor Network Theory (ANT)– can you explain its contributions and limitations?

There are 4 mainstream perspectives attempting to address technology, including Technological determinism (TD), Social Shaping of Technology (SST), Social construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor Network Theory (ANT).

TD is a theory that presumes that the technology has dominant force to cause the social and organisational change. This theory suggests that almost all problems can be solved by technology.

SST could be defined as a theory that argues social, organisational and cultural processes shape technologies. Thus, many technologies could be abandoned for non-technical reasons (Cowan). For instance, electronic cars. SST addresses the problem of TD successfully, however,

• Actor-network theory (ANT) - posits a heterogeneous network of humans and non-humans as equal interrelated actors. It strives for impartiality in the description of human and nonhuman actors and the reintegration of the natural and social worlds. For example, Latour (1992) argues that instead of worrying whether we are anthropomorphizing technology, we should embrace it as inherently anthropomorphic: technology is made by humans, substitutes for the actions of humans, and shapes human action. What is important is the chain and gradients of actors' actions and competences, and the degree to which we choose to have figurative representations. Key concepts include the inscription of beliefs, practices, relations into technology, which is then said to embody them. Key authors include Latour and Callon

• Actor-Network Theory (ANT)

• Originally created by French scholars Latour and Callon as an attempt to understand processes of technological innovation and scientific knowledge-creation, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) can be contrasted with “heroic” accounts of scientific advance. For example, rather than saying Newton “founded” the theory of gravitation...