The Turn to Technology in Social Studies of Science
Abstract
This article examines how the special theoretical significance of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is affected by attempts to apply relativist-constructivism to technology. The article shows that the failure to confront key analytic ambivalences in the practice of SSK has compromised its original strategic significance. In particular, the construal of SSK as an explanatory formula diminishes its potential for profoundly reconceptualizing epistemic issues. A consideration of critiques of technological determinism, and of some empirical studies, reveals similar analytic ambivalences in the social study of technology (SST). The injunction to consider "technology as text" is critically examined. It is concluded that a reflexive interpretation of this slogan is necessary to recover some of the epistemological significance lost in the constructivist move from SSK to SST.
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Technologies should be read as texts.
“Here I pull from Woolgar's (1991) thesis that technologies should be read as texts, which buttresses my rationale for a cultural and media studies approach to interpreting information technologies.”
From Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures (2020) · cites this paper as Woolgar, 1991
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Orlikowski, W. J. (2000) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.11.4.404.14600 · Cited by 4,760 · see citing works
Technologies, texts and affordances.
Hutchby, I. (2001) · Sociology · doi:10.1177/s0038038501000219 · Cited by 2,012 · see citing works
The social shaping of technology
Williams, R., & Edge, D. (1996) · Research Policy · doi:10.1016/0048-7333(96)00885-2 · Cited by 917 · see citing works
Critical technocultural discourse analysis
Brock, A. (2018) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444816677532 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Brock, A. (2020) · doi:10.18574/9781479811908 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Socio-Technical Agency in Financial Markets: The Case of the Stock Ticker
Preda, A. (2006) · Social Studies of Science · doi:10.1177/0306312706059543 · Cited by 218 · see citing works
Engelbert, J., van Zoonen, L., & Hirzalla, F. (2019) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2018.08.020 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Sociotechnical Approaches to the Study of Information Systems
Sawyer, S., & Jarrahi, M. H. (2022) · Computing Handbook · doi:10.1201/9780429171529-98 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Sociotechnical Approaches to the Study of Information Systems
Sawyer, S., & Jarrahi, M. (2014) · Computing Handbook, Third Edition · doi:10.1201/b16768-7 · Cited by 103
- Authors
- Woolgar, S.
- Affiliations
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Woolgar, Steve
- ORCID
- Woolgar, Steve
- Venue
- Science, Technology, & Human Values
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1991-01
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20-50
- ISSN
- 0162-2439 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-8251
- OpenAlex
- W2114109725
- Cited by
- 358
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 48.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science Technology & Human Values (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Education, Politics, and Culture Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Interdisciplinary Studies: Technology, Society, and Humanities
- Keywords
- sociology of scientific knowledge, social studies of technology, relativism, constructivism, technological determinism, epistemology, reflexivity, social construction of technology
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