A Dutch translation of the preface of Material Participation: Technology, the Environment & Everyday Publics (Palgrave 2012), this article makes the case for a materially sensitive approach in the social study of participation, and discusses the contribution of actor-network theory (ANT) to the development of such an approach. Actor-network theory has made a critical contribution to social and political research and theory by bringing into view the participation of non-humans in social and public life. As such, ANT has also advanced our understanding of public involvement as a materially mediated phenomenon. Nevertheless, we must move beyond actor-network theory if we are to grasp material participation and its significance for democracy, and this insofar as ANT defined the role of technology, things and environments in democracy in terms of 'sub-politics'. ANT argues that material entities exert an influence in public life in a latent fashion, and as such they are said to intervene primary on the level of social and political practice. The article proposes a re-framing of the material dimension of political participation, arguing that the articulation of public engagement as a material phenomenon constitutes a normative intervention not just in practice, but also on the level of the ideals and forms of democracy. Adapted from the source document.