The Turn to Technology in Social Studies of Science
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5227775 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steve Woolgar (0000-0003-1465-3136, Brunel University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 20-50 |
| Publication date | 1991-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/016224399101600102 |
| OpenAlex | W2114109725 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 139 |
| References cited | 21 |
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
Epistemology · Political science · Reflexivity · Relativism · Slogan · Social constructivism · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Law · Philosophy
Inside the Politics of Technology
Epistemic cultures, knowledge types, and disciplinary tensions in population health research
STS as a Program of Ontological Disobedience
Maintenance and Its Knowledges
Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies
Tecnologia, políticas e inclusão social
Does public administration have artefacts
La confianza absoluta en la ciencia, o de cómo la geoingeniería sostiene la salvación del planeta/ The absolute trust in science, or how geoengineering holds the salvation of the planet
Do Politics Have Artefacts
Reflexivity in Technology Studies
E-Topia as Cosmopolis or Citadel
La vida social de las máquinas
Ethnography and the Development of Science and Technology Studies
Cinematic Perspectives on Digital Culture
Theorizing Practice and Practicing Theory
Excluding citizens from the European smart city
The social shaping of technology
The Politics of Artifacts Revisited
Bienvenidos a Cyberia. Notas Para Una Antropología De La Cibercultura
The integration of information and communication technology into community pharmacists practice in Barcelona
A Manifesto for Messy Philosophy of Technology
Una comprensión (in)material de las técnicas. A propósito de fomentar vínculos entre las humanidades y los Estudios de la Ciencia y la Tecnología
The Collective Construction of Technology
Three Decades of Social Construction of Technology
The Distribution and Resolution of the Ambiguities of Technology, or Why Bobby Can't Spray
La vida social de las máquinas orígenes, desarrollo y perspectivas actuales en la sociología de la tecnología
Teaching Tech by Rote
Understanding energy efficiency in Swedish residential building renovation
Technology, Gender, and Climate Change
The Ontology of Symbolic Reality in the Philosophy of F.T. Mikhailov
Social Media and Sports Journalism in Zimbabwe
Technology as functional simplification
Deliberate Constructions of the Mind
Drawn into the future
Mobile phone repair in Ghana
Critical technocultural discourse analysis
The alt-right digital migration
Algorithms as figures
Internet Research Tracings
Competing Agendas in Upstream Engagement Meetings Between Celiac Disease Experts and Patients
Empowerment, destigmatization and sustainability
Low-tech security
Social constructivism
Defining the scientific community
Turning to ontology in STS? Turning to STS through ‘ontology’
Ontography
Come back public/private; (Almost) All is forgiven
Domesticating a redesigned public square
Capturing Fair Use for the Youtube Generation
Investigating how the interaction between individual and circumstantial determinants influence the emergence of digital poverty
Does STS Mean Business
Socio-psychological determinants of public acceptance of technologies
AI and representation
Shining a brighter light into the digital ‘black box’
A Model for Interdisciplinary Work
Beyond the Triple Helix
The Deliberative Politics of the Consultative Layer
Concept-Quake
Sociotechnical Approaches to the Study of Information Systems
Conceptualising Demand
Thick Big Data
Inside the Politics of Technology
Fallacies of Virtualization
Special Eurobarometer 401
Entre technologies de santé et soin des technologies
Synesthetizing Sound Studies and the Sociology of Technology
Death and Furniture
The role of technology in intelligence practice
Representations and Requirements
Proverbial economies of STS
Reflexivity
The sociology of technology before the turn to technology
Expectations in the field of the Internet and health
M-apping' sleep? Trends and transformations in the digital age
Against Reflexivity as an Academic Virtue and Source of Privileged Knowledge
Muerte y mobiliario
“This is what kills the joy in teaching”
Infrastructural politics amidst the coils of control
What's at Stake in the Sociology of Technology? A Reply to Pinch and to Winner
Mediating Science and Society in the EU and UK
Alternative Facts and States of Fear
The social construction of technological stasis
Imagined use as a category of analysis
What happened to provocation in science and technology studies
The Primacy of Science in Modernity, of Technology in Postmodernity, and of Ideology in the History of Technology
Infrastructure and the Form of Politics
X-Morphising
Extending the Burkeian system
Agency, sociomateriality, and configuration work
On phatic technologies for creating and maintaining human relationships
Apart from technology
The problem of technology as valuation errors
A Science and Technology Studies Challenge to Trustworthiness Criteria
Technology as prospective ontology
Ontologies on collision course
Toward a new stage for the epistemology of futures studies
A Disagreement over Agreement and Consensus in Constructionist Sociology
Electronic Fortification in Phoenix
When the mirrors have tails—thematizing reflexivity, subjectivity and social order in sociological theory
The turn to turns in International Relations
The Pseudo-Science of Science?
The Strengths of the Strong Programme
Studies in ethnomethodology
Knowledge and social imagery
The Social construction of technological systems
The Social shaping of technology
Political Philosophy and the Idea of a Social Science
Discovery
Struggles and Negotiations to Define What is Problematic and What is Not
The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts
Stages in the Empirical Programme of Relativism
Special Relativism — The Natural Attitude
II.2 The Strengths of the Strong Programme
II.1 The Pseudo-Science of Science
Constructing Social Problems
Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science
The Turn to Technology in Social Studies of Science
Ontological Gerrymandering
The Seven Sexes
| Unique citing works | 139 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,86 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 2026 (37) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 128 |