- published: 16 Nov 2009
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Actor–network theory (ANT) is an approach to social theory and research, originating in the field of science studies, which treats objects as part of social networks. Although it is best known for its controversial insistence on the capacity of nonhumans to act or participate in systems or networks or both, ANT is also associated with forceful critiques of conventional and critical sociology. Developed by science and technology studies (STS) scholars Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, the sociologist John Law, and others, it can more technically be described as a "material-semiotic" method. This means that it maps relations that are simultaneously material (between things) and semiotic (between concepts). It assumes that many relations are both material and semiotic.
Broadly speaking, ANT is a constructivist approach in that it avoids essentialist explanations of events or innovations (i. e. ANT explains a successful theory by understanding the combinations and interactions of elements that make it successful, rather than saying it is “true” and the others are “false”). However, it is distinguished from many other STS and sociological network theories for its distinct material-semiotic approach.
In computer and network science, network theory is the study of graphs as a representation of either symmetric relations or, more generally, of asymmetric relations between discrete objects. Network theory is a part of graph theory.
It has applications in many disciplines including statistical physics, particle physics, computer science, electrical engineering, biology, economics, operations research,climatology and sociology. Applications of network theory include logistical networks, the World Wide Web, Internet, gene regulatory networks, metabolic networks, social networks, epistemological networks, etc; see List of network theory topics for more examples.
Euler's solution of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem is considered to be the first true proof in the theory of networks.
Network problems that involve finding an optimal way of doing something are studied under the name combinatorial optimization. Examples include network flow, shortest path problem, transport problem, transshipment problem, location problem, matching problem, assignment problem, packing problem, routing problem, Critical Path Analysis and PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Technique).