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In this brief text, Michael describes the core elements of Actor network theory. This is a way of looking at aspects of the world through a lens of associations: how people and artifacts interact in relationship to one-another.
Actor network theory argues that a key actor must “problematize” their interests to attract the attention of others, promising the others that their interests will be satisfied together if they mutually commit to a project. The actors move through an “obligatory passage point” by breaking some existing associations and forging new ones. To study such a phenomenon, Latour, a proponent of the methodology, urges researchers to “follow the actor”—to take an omniscient view of the system, with a focus on one particular node, as it associates with others. This top-down approach was met with criticism, as it seemed contradictory to more situated and emergent views of behavior and the research of humans.