Beyond perceptions of reality: Using Actor-Network Theory to examine socio-technical change

Abstract

Considerations of socio-technical change often make recourse to objective scientific knowledge and subjective societal values and perceptions. Conceptual insights from Actor-Network Theory provide an alternative approach, whereby reality (and our knowledge in/of it) is enacted by a heterogeneous assemblage of humans and non-humans. Such research must traverse commonly held categories of science, society, politics, and nature, and draws attention to the many and various activities that contribute to the success (and failure) of socio-technical change. Furthermore, it has the potential to disrupt trajectories of change by asking questions that are absent from public debate on such matters. Drawing on research into the development of Genetically Modified Organisms in New Zealand I will explore the use of conceptual tools taken from Actor-Network Theory. I will provide an overview of how the practices involved in doing GMO research serve to shape the success or failure of research projects. In doing so I will also examine how the overall trajectory of GMO research in New Zealand has changed over time, and consider how scholarship could gain critical insight into future developments in this area.