The Constructivist Approaches of Technology Studies

Studies by Hughes, Bijker and Pfaffenburger

Nov 26, 2015

Outline

  • Thomas P. Hughes
     
  • Wiebe E. Bijker
     
  • Bryan Pfaffenberger
     
  • Case study: Ad blocking

Thomas P. Hughes (1923-2014)

  • An American historian of technology
     
  • First studied mechanical engineering
    but turned to European history
     
  • Received PhD from the University of Virgina
     
  • Taught at University of Pennsylvania
     
  • Wanted the history of technology to become part of mainstream history

A Seamless Web (1986, 1991)

  • A critique of the internalist approach of history
    • False division of science and technology
    • Rigid analytical categories
  • Thomas Edison
  • "technical, scientific, economic, political, social, etc., are overlapping, soft categories." (Hughes, 1986: 287)
  • A 'systems' approach
  • Technology as social-technical systems

The Evolution of Large Technological Systems (1987)

From Hughes (1991)

  • Invention
  • Development
  • Innovation
  • Transfer
  • Growth, Competition, and Consolidation
  • Momentum

Wiebe E. Bijker (1951-)

  • A Dutch professor at
    Maastricht University
  • His father was an engineer involved in the implementation of the Delta Plan
  • Studied philosophy, physical engineering, and finished his PhD in sociology and the history of technology at University of Twente
  • (Along with Trevor Pinch) Considered the main adherents of the SCOT approach

The Social Construction of Technology (1987, 2010)

  • Wanted to explore the science-technology relationship
  • Integrated the EPOR and the SCOT approaches
  • A multidirectional model of artifacts and social groups
  • Problems and solutions
  • Co-construction of technology and society
  • Three-step research process
    • Finding relevant social groups
    • Identifying interpretive flexibility
    • Finding processes of stabilization/closure

A multi-directional model of bicycle development

Bryan Pfaffenberger (1949-)

  • An American professor
    at the University of Virginia
  • Received PhD at UCBerkeley
  • Did fieldwork in Sri Lanka
  • Resigned a tenured position in anthropology because of interest shift to technology
  • Integrated STS into mainstream anthropology discourse

Technological Dramas (1992)

  • A model to describe the power relations between designers and users in discursive practices
  • The "dramatic" nature of discourse: performative, mythical, ritualistic

Case study: Ad blocking

Source: http://www.castle33.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AdBlock-Blog-.jpg

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