Actor-network theory and organizing

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) has over the past few decades developed into a practical, challenging and intriguing tool for studying organizing. Its unique approach brings to light the multiple ways that people, artifacts, institutions and organizations become intertwined. ANT-inspired studies illuminate connections, complexities and interactions that are left obscure by mainstream views. This second edition of the 2005 book shows anew how ANT may be applied to the study of aspects of organization as diverse as technology, organizational change, routines, virtual organization, strategy, power, market mechanisms, consumer behavior, public administration and knowledge management. The book is suitable for researchers and higherlevel students, and serves as an excellent primer for those wanting to learn about ANT through the lens of organization theory. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) started with stories about strange worlds inhabited by scallops, microbes or Portuguese caravels sharing their lives with human beings. It is now a wide field of research explicitly open to new contributions, translations and problematizations. This innovative book writes a new chapter in the ANT saga. Based on a series of field studies, it shows very convincingly how this now widely recognized approach might be helpful to revisit notions like power, organization and market. Michel Callon, CSI, Ecole des Mines de Paris