Actor-network theory derives its foundational ideas from the science of semiotics and the poststructuralist approach in social sciences. Key prepositions of actor-network theory were developed by French sociologist Bruno Latour and later developed by him and his collaborators Callon Michael and Steve Woolgar. Latour first became famous for his book Laboratory Life (1979), in which he presents the results of research conducted in the research neuro-endocrinology laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, USA. In this research, as well as in writing the book, Latour collaborated with Steve Woolgar. They developed an anthropological research model adapted to the study of the production of scientific and technological knowledge, and they studied various activities that scientists carried out in that laboratory. The basic theoretical approach of the research was the hypothesis that scientists actively produce the boundaries between science and society, using different resources in different situations. Using this approach, they found that scientists, in order to be successful in their work, establish connections with actors who possess power; in addition, scientists need to increase scientific credibility, that is, scientific capital. These connections and capital must continue to be constantly strengthened in order to maintain the strength of the bond within the "network".

It is the concept of the "network" that is essentially innovative and most important for the entire Latour's scientific work. Networks are not the same as social structure in other sociological theories. Networks are stable and broad macro phenomena, but they differ from structures in their process character. While structures represent stable relationships between elements, networks, according to Latour, represent a semiotic product of the daily actions of actors. Actors (or "actants" in Latour's terminology), on the other hand, are not just people, but an amalgam of textual, conceptual, social, and technical actors. Precisely because of the focus on actors and the networks they create, Latour called his theoretical approach "actor-network theory". Actor-network theory, which represents both a theoretical approach and a research method, studies how networks grow, overcome difficulties, and become stable over time; how networks organize their elements and how they direct the behavior of actors by creating stable roles; and how networks become functionally necessary for actors.

In his later work, Latour developed the term "technoscience" to describe a situation in which the various actants who make up scientific practices are unable to easily transfer that knowledge into applied research. Technoscience functions through the constant production of both science and society. Latour introduces another term - "translation", to explain the relationship between science and politics. Translation refers to the process of summarizing scientific knowledge into core and "inscriptions" (records) in the form of formulas or graphs. These records form part of the political method used for influencing the world.

Authors: Latour Bruno. Callon, Michel; Law, John; Woolgar, Steve.

Books and articles:

Callon, Michel. “Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay.” In Law, John (ed.) Power, Action, and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge? (1986);

“The Sociology of an Actor-Network: The Case of the Electric Vehicle.” In Callon, M., J. Law, and A. Rip (eds.) Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World (1986);

Callon, M. and Latour, B. ”Unscrewing the Big  Leviathan: How Actors Macrostructure Reality and How Scientists Help Them Do So”, in K. Knorr-Cetina and A. Cicourel (eds.) Advances in Social Theory and Methodology (1981);

Callon, M., Law, J. and Rip, A. (eds.). Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology (1986);

Latour, Bruno. Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts (1979);

     -     Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society (1987);

     -     The Pasteurization of France (1988, in French 1985);

     -     We Have Never Been Modern (1993, in French 1991); 

     -     Aramis, or the Love of Technology (1996, in French 1992);

     -     Pandora's Hope: An Essay on the Reality of Science Studies (1999);

     -     “On Recalling ANT”, in Law, John and J. Hassard (eds.) Actor Network Theory and After (1999);

     -     “Gabriel Tarde and the End of the Social”, in P. Joyce (ed.) The Social in Question (2002);

     -     Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy (2005); 

     -     Reassembling the Social: An introduction to Actor-Network Theory (2005);

     -     On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods (2010);

Law, John. “Notes on the Theory of Actor-Network: Ordering, Strategy and Heterogeneity”, in Systems Practice (1992);

“After ANT: Complexity, Naming, and Topology”, in Law, John and J. Hassard Actor Network Theory and After (1999);

Law, J. Organizing Modernity (1994);

Law, J. and Hassard, J. (eds). Actor–Network Theory and After (1999);

Law, J., and Hassard, J. Aircraft Stories: Decentering the Object in Technoscience (2002);

Star, S. L. (ed.) Ecologies of Knowledge: Work and Politics in Science and Technology (1995);

Bijker, W. & Law, J. (eds.). Shaping Technology/Building Society (1992);

Fuller, S. The Philosophy of Science and Technology Studies (2006).