Langdon Winner (1993): Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology The Social Construction of Technology, or Social Constructivism, is a theory introduced by Wiebe Bijker and Trevor Pinch. The theory proposes that the development of technology is an interactive sociotechnical process within relevant social groups (e.g users, producers). As a methodology, social constructivism analyses artefacts in the context of society and explores the dynamics of technological change. According to Pinch and Bijker (1987), social constructivism is “fundamentally a sociological approach towards technology”. This school of research attempts to understand the mechanisms behind different social groups’ interpretations of technological artefacts. In his article titled “Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology”, Langdon Winner (1993) presented a critique of social constructivism; noting that while there are definitely positive facets of social constructivism, there are also significant complications with the methodology. The aspects of social constructivism that he finds valuable include its conceptual rigor, its concern for specifics and its attempts to provide empirical models of technological change that better reveal the actual course of events (Winner, 1993). Despite this, Winner is adamant about the narrow confines of the social constructivist perspective. In his article, Winner (1993, p. 368) explores four specific limitations of social constructivism: A disregard for social consequences: Social constructivist writing explains how technologies come to be, however it ignores the consequences of technologies and the impac... ... middle of paper ... ..., N. (2002). SCOT: Does it answer?. Technology And Culture, 43 (2), pp. 351--360. Kallinikos, J. (2002). Reopening the black box of technology artifacts and human agency. Mackenzie, D. A. & Wajcman, J. (1985). The Social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Pinch, T. & Bijker, W. (1987). The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or how the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other. Cambridge: MIT Press. Williams, R. & Edge, D. (1996). The social shaping of technology. Research Policy, 25 (6), pp. 865--899. Winner, L. (1993). Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology. Science, Technology And Human Values, 18 pp. 362-378. Woolgar, S. (1991). The Turn to Technology in Social Studies of Science. Science, Technology & Human Values, 16 pp. 20-50.
Goldberg, David Theo. “If Technology Is Making Us Stupid, It’s Not Technology’s Fault.” Blog. Digital Humanities. August 16, 2010. Gooch and Suyler. in Argument. Avenue of the Americas, New York.2011. 301-03. Print.
Wiebe E Bijker, T. P. (1987). The Social Construction of Technological Systems. London: The MIT Press.
When it comes to the definition of technology in their articles, both Carr and Cascio have similarities and differences. Both authors are debating about the use of technology in today’s society. Both of their articles touch base on the ideals of “what technology is” in their perspectives. Carr believes that technology is making us want the quick path to information or common knowledge and says the Internet is “a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information”. Cascio also believes th...
...been put on the technological platform itself and the infrastructure of it, and too little on the social and cultural context of the citizens and users. Communtes basically can not be created with technology if the social and cultural networks are not there, and if users do not see the benefit or are not motivated for using the technology” (Bondebjerg 9)
“The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts” is about "integrated social constructivist approach towards the study of science and technology"(pg 399). The author's Pinch and Bijker discuss that even though it has been a practice to separate science and technology, but they are hugely connected because of this they might benefit from each other. The authors discuss about the three main parts of science and technology termed as "Sociology of science", "the science technology relationship" and the "technology studies".
Winston, M., & Edelbach, R. (2014). Society, Ethics, and Technology 5th Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Technology is crucial in influencing society, therefore it is imperative to understand what influences technological development and how it changes society, such as social shaping and theories of technological determinism. Langdon Winner supports the social determination of technology through the findings of others and his theories of politically influenced technologies, thus Winner accounts for technological determinism through defining the theory in this context.
Richtel, M. “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price,” New York Times, 2010. Retrieved on December 1, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
This is magnanimously echoed by Mackenzie & Wajcman, who state that technology can only be understood as the product of social preferences, bureaucratic mandates, and economic pressures. The import from this statement is that social shaping of technology proponents are concerned mainly with the social forces that give rise to certain technologies, rather than the social effects that result from certain technologies. The social constructivist aspect of the social shaping of technology theory is a great way to demonstrate how technologies inadvertently emerge from procedures of choice and negotiation between relevant social groups to realize the social interests they
Langdon Winner set out to try and describe exactly how technology has restructured the world. In his work, “Technologies as Forms of Life,” he describes technology as a way of life. He further divides technology into two ways of life: there is the life of making technology, and there is the life of using technology. Winner claims that the first way of life is focused on ensuring
Sanders, Ralph. (2000). Technology in a Paradigm Century. Available: http://www.cosmosclub.org/web/journals/2000/sanders.html. Last accessed 2nd Feb 2013.
Today, Americans are faced with the increasing change of technology in our everyday life. Sometimes the change happens and we do not realize how it affects our lives. I think it is always a good idea to talk to someone that is older than yourself, like your grandparents to remind you of the times in their younger years. Hopefully, that will open your eyes to the changes we face in this generation and the generation to come. In this chapter, the author explores the relationship of changing technology to changes in both the environment and social institutions.
Technology is changing how we think and act at younger ages. The term “technology” doesn’t only mean manufacturing processes and equipment necessary for production, it also defines a social space and could be a social problem which makes a real impact on social reality. Different types of social software affect a variety of aspects and have both positive and negative impacts. It's important to be aware of how a digitally-driven life is changing our education, sense of self, relationships, social interaction, consumerism, and ways of doing business around the world.
According to John Horvat, an author in The Wall Street Journal, " The proper use of technology is that it should be a means to serve us and make our lives easier. A key requirement is that we should be in control." Although, the problem with today`s society, is that we are not in control. Instead of technology serving us, it is now the other way around. Society has been more dependent on its technology in recent years, than it has ever been in the past. Those who are against the up rise of the technology industries, believe that technology has taken away ...
The first area where technology and society relates most is communication. People in a society must pass information from one person to another to maintain order. Traditionally, information dissemination was done using inefficient methods such as the messengers and would take long time before it reached to the intended recipient depending on the distance. Technological advancement that resulted in introduction of more efficient means of communication such as mobile phones and computers led to contextualization of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This had a direct impact on the society as now information could be disseminated amongst a larger group and in the contemporary wo...