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Fenwick and Edward share how ANT challenges a number of assumptions that lie in educational conceptions of development, learning , agency, identity, knowledge and teaching. ANT identifies rich interconnections in both social and cognitive activity. As shared in the book, Neyland , p. For those interested in reading the book in more detail, you will appreciate how Fenwick and Edward utilize ANT in education as a source of research practices, to consider:.
Actor-network theory in education. Making a mess with method, in W. Dismissed content and discontent: You are commenting using your WordPress. Firstly, it implies that what is described takes the shape of a network, which is not necessarily the case. Secondly, it implies "transportation without deformation," which, in ANT, is not possible since any actor-network involves a vast number of translations. Latour, [15] however, still contends that network is a fitting term to use, because "it has no a priori order relation; it is not tied to the axiological myth of a top and of a bottom of society; it makes absolutely no assumption whether a specific locus is macro- or micro- and does not modify the tools to study the element 'a' or the element 'b'.
Actor—network theory tries to explain how material—semiotic networks come together to act as a whole; the clusters of actors involved in creating meaning are both material and semiotic. As a part of this it may look at explicit strategies for relating different elements together into a network so that they form an apparently coherent whole.
These networks are potentially transient, existing in a constant making and re-making. They also assume that networks of relations are not intrinsically coherent, and may indeed contain conflicts.
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Social relations, in other words, are only ever in process, and must be performed continuously. Actants denote human and non-human actors, and in a network take the shape that they do by virtue of their relations with one another. It assumes that nothing lies outside the network of relations, and as noted above, suggests that there is no difference in the ability of technology, humans, animals, or other non-humans to act and that there are only enacted alliances.
As soon as an actor engages with an actor-network it too is caught up in the web of relations, and becomes part of the entelechy.
Actor-Network Theory in Education
If taken to its logical conclusion, then, nearly any actor can be considered merely a sum of other, smaller actors. A car is an example of a complex system. It contains many electronic and mechanical components, all of which are essentially hidden from view to the driver, who simply deals with the car as a single object. This effect is known as punctualisation , and is similar to the idea of encapsulation in object-oriented programming.
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When an actor network breaks down, the punctualisation effect tends to cease as well. In the automobile example above, a non-working engine would cause the driver to become aware of the car as a collection of parts rather than just a vehicle capable of transporting them from place to place. This can also occur when elements of a network act contrarily to the network as a whole.
When closed, the box is perceived simply as a box, although when it is opened all elements inside it becomes visible. ANT is often associated with the equal treatment of human and non-human actors. ANT assumes that all entities in a network can and should be described in the same terms.
This is called the principle of generalized symmetry. The rationale for this is that differences between them are generated in the network of relations, and should not be presupposed. The distinction between intermediaries and mediators is key to ANT sociology. Intermediaries are entities which make no difference to some interesting state of affairs which we are studying and so can be ignored.
They transport the force of some other entity more or less without transformation and so are fairly uninteresting. Mediators are entities which multiply difference and so should be the object of study. Their outputs cannot be predicted by their inputs.
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From an ANT point of view sociology has tended to treat too much of the world as intermediaries. In such a view the real world silk—nylon difference is irrelevant — presumably many other material differences could also, and do also, transport this class distinction. But taken as mediators these fabrics would have to be engaged with by the analyst in their specificity: For the committed ANT analyst, social things—like class distinctions in taste in the silk and nylon example, but also groups and power—must constantly be constructed or performed anew through complex engagements with complex mediators.
There is no stand-alone social repertoire lying in the background to be reflected off, expressed through, or substantiated in, interactions as in an intermediary conception. Central to ANT is the concept of translation which is sometimes referred to as sociology of translation , in which innovators attempt to create a forum, a central network in which all the actors agree that the network is worth building and defending. In his widely debated study of how marine biologists try to restock the St Brieuc Bay in order to produce more scallops, [16] Michel Callon has defined 4 moments of translation: Also important to the notion is the role of network objects in helping to smooth out the translation process by creating equivalencies between what would otherwise be very challenging people, organizations or conditions to mesh together.
Bruno Latour spoke about this particular task of objects in his work Reassembling the Social As the token is increasingly transmitted or passed through the network, it becomes increasingly punctualized and also increasingly reified. When the token is decreasingly transmitted, or when an actor fails to transmit the token e.
Recently, there has been a movement to introduce Actor Network Theory as an analytical tool to a range of applied disciplines outside of sociology, including nursing, public health, business Klein and Czarniawska, , library and information science Beagle, Actor-Network Theory has become increasingly prominent within the discipline of International Relations and Political Science. Empirically, IR scholars have drawn on insights from ANT in order to study phenomena including political violences like the use of torture and drones, [21] piracy and maritime governance, [25] and garbage.
The Actor-Network Theory can also be applied to design, using a perspective that is not simply limited to an analysis of an object's structure. From the ANT viewpoint, design is seen as a series of features that account for a social, psychological, and economical world. ANT argues that objects are designed to shape human action and mold or influence decisions. In this way, the objects' design serves to mediate human relationships and can even impact our morality, ethics, and politics.
There were a number of key actors within the networks explored that mobilize change. It is logical that the VS was enacted with some level of centrality, as the focal actor that had called all the players to the stage to act out this process of change. The power held by the VS comes from a number of legislative sources, and the legislation was enacted through the careful wording and construction of the PEP document which guided and scaffolded each meeting, whilst defining the roles of the social worker and designated teacher.
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In all cases, the designated teacher too was a key actor: Another teacher did not make use of technology in the meeting itself, but her position was also reinforced by her knowledge of school funding and resources. This is largely in conflict with the importance of the social worker role outlined in legislation. The social worker has responsibility for completing certain sections of the document. However, from my observations, these sections are not likely to enact change for pupils when the focus is upon accelerated progress and the closing of the attainment gap. In the meetings too, whilst the social worker may occasionally prompt discussion, they do not make decisions.