Actor–network theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach to social theory where everything in the social and natural worlds exists in constantly shifting networks of relationship. It posits that nothing exists outside those relationships. All the factors involved in a social situation are on the same level, and thus there are no external social forces beyond what and how the network participants interact at present. Thus, objects, ideas, processes, and any other relevant factors are seen as just as important in creating social situations as humans. ANT holds that social forces do not exist in themselves, and therefore cannot be used to explain social phenomena. Instead, strictly empirical analysis should be undertaken to “describe” rather than “explain” social activity. Only after this can one introduce the concept of social forces, and only as an abstract theoretical concept, not something which genuinely exists in the world. The fundamental aim of ANT is to explore how networks are built or assembled and maintained to achieve a specific objective.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. (Correlates with the walkthrough method in the treatment of all agent within the network.)  

A computer can have the same amount of agency in a social network as the people  whose communication the computer supports. All assemblages are comprised of actants and all actants are assemblages within themselves. Example a assemblage of a birthday cake (actants: ingredients, cook,the bowl, the oven, the wooden spoon and we can breakdown these actants into their respective actants as well. The birthday cake can be looked at within another assemblage ( a birthday party). does include gender , race or religion.