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Exploring Actor-Network Theory and Social Construction of Technology in Engineering Practice

This article delves into the interdisciplinary fields of Science, Technology, and Society (STS), highlighting two primary frameworks: Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). It emphasizes the co-construction aspect, where society shapes technology, and vice versa. With practical examples, including the salmon farming industry, the article explores how various actors and their relations create intricate networks that influence technological practices. It also raises critical questions about the nature of technology and society's interdependence, while emphasizing empirical studies in STS research.

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Exploring Actor-Network Theory and Social Construction of Technology in Engineering Practice

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  1. Centre for Science StudiesLancaster University Engineering Practice and STS John Law

  2. STS is …. ‘Science, technology & society’ Shaping Construction Mutual shaping (co-construction) Ordering: networks & relations Two (similar?!) approaches: SCOT (social construction of technology) ANT (actor-network theory) 2

  3. A Word on SCOT Social interests shape technologies: bicycles; print technologies; military hardware; genomics Social forces, interests (society) Technologies, engineering (artefacts) 3

  4. Co-construction? Society shapes technologies: and technologies shape society bicycles; print technologies; military hardware; genomics! Social forces, interests (society) Technologies, engineering (artefacts) 4

  5. What is at stake? Is society fundamentally different from technology? Should we explore how they influence one another? = SCOT & co-construction or Are society and technology all mixed up? Should we explore patterns of relations? = ANT 5

  6. The basic ANT message To understand technologies? think of them as networks/ systems: Explore • practices • Look for relations (& patterns) • see what’s important empirically (‘follow the actors’) • don’t distinguish social/technical (‘symmetry’) • expect networks to be heterogeneous, (social, technical, natural)

  7. The basic ANT message Expect the following networks are more or less precarious components & relations change shape social/technical emergent social/technical revisable networks: not entirely coherent 7

  8. Today’s Talk STS works empirically! Three cases Simple example: salmon farm (new) Large scale example (Portuguese) Management (Daresbury Laboratory) 8

  9. The Salmon Farm

  10. Norway!

  11. Norway!

  12. The Fish Farm in Norway!

  13. Doing ANT? • I’m looking for • ‘actors’ … anything that acts … objects, people, texts (symmetry!) • ‘relations’, network (patterns between these) • mutual adjustments (‘actors’ shaped by relations) • to produce an ‘actor-network’ 13

  14. Complexity? 14

  15. Complexity!

  16. More complexity!!

  17. And again (or is it simply mess?!)

  18. Now the whole point: salmon in a tank! 18

  19. Question: how is it possible to grow salmon in a tank?

  20. Answer… I’m going to try to trace… • Actors • Networks/Connections • Materials • Heterogeneous materials • To try to trace an actor-network • Basic question: what do the salmon depend on? • How is a ‘salmon-network’ done?

  21. 1. Water

  22. (More Water!)

  23. 2. Feed

  24. 3. Oxygen

  25. 4. Electricity

  26. 5. Vaccination

  27. 6. Boats and Piers

  28. 7. God?

  29. 8. Paperwork

  30. 9. Displays

  31. 10. People places

  32. 11. People

  33. I’ve made an actor-network I’ve • Followed the actors (symmetrically) • Followed their relations • Tried to see how they fit together to make a network 33

  34. An actor-network? God Boats People Farmed Salmon Electricity Water Food pellets Piped Oxygen Paperwork Displays

  35. Compare and Contrast! People?! ‘Wild’ Salmon Water Food Air 35

  36. An actor-network? God Boats People Farmed Salmon Electricity Water Food pellets Piped Oxygen Paperwork Displays 36

  37. The Salmon Actor-network • Intricate ‘heterogeneous engineering’! • Materials, technologies • People • Paperwork • Electronics • The natural world • Even God? • Sets of relations, connections • A network that ‘enacts’ salmon

  38. More! But not everything is connected! I need to trace disconnections too (Salmon need to be separated from ….?)

  39. Nets? (freedom, birds, seals)

  40. (Bio)security?(diseases) 40

  41. More (bio)security?

  42. Chemical Treatment (sea lice) 42

  43. Sealing an Enclosure 43

  44. The Salmon not-network?! Regulators Freezing water Disease Salmon Freedom! Wild Salmon Birds Seals Sea Lice Warm water 44

  45. Is also a network?! Vaccination Disease Salmon Freedom! Chemicals Birds Seals Sea Lice Nets 45

  46. A salmon actor-network Practices that enact … • Connections/networks/links(water, electricity, oxygen, feed…) • Barriers/separations(vaccination, biosecurity, nets, disinfection, age-classes, wild salmon)

  47. This is Actor-Network Theory I‘m looking at the practices & strategies of ‘heterogeneous engineering’ Network configurations Social, technical and natural (mixed up) Tracing the processes of adjustment Aware of insecurity/uncertainty!

  48. An Actor Network on a Global Scale?

  49. An Actor Network on a Global Scale? Question? How did the Portuguese get to India? & Taiwan! Answer! The built a heterogeneous network! 49

  50. Historical Interlude!Zheng He, 1405-1433

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