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How is technology made?--That is the question!

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  • Wiebe E. Bijker

Abstract

This article reviews constructivist technology studies, and especially the social construction of technology (SCOT). To investigate how these constructivist studies regard the ontology of technology, I will trace their historical development in units of analysis, methodological approaches and research questions. Constructivist technology studies are relativistic in only one sense: methodological. They are agnostic with respect to the ontology of technology. Constructivist studies of technology thus do not primarily answer the question 'what is technology?'; they trace the process 'how to make technology'. Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved., Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Wiebe E. Bijker, 2010. "How is technology made?--That is the question!," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 34(1), pages 63-76, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:34:y:2010:i:1:p:63-76
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bep068
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    Cited by:

    1. Elsahn, Ziad & Earl, Anna, 2022. "Alternative ways of studying time in qualitative international business research: A review and future agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    2. Havas, Attila & Weber, K. Matthias, 2017. "The 'fit' between forward-looking activities and the innovation policy governance sub-system: A framework to explore potential impacts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 327-337.
    3. Ulucanlar, S. & Faulkner, A. & Peirce, S. & Elwyn, G., 2013. "Technology identity: The role of sociotechnical representations in the adoption of medical devices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 95-105.
    4. Philip Faulkner & Clive Lawson & Jochen Runde, 2010. "Theorising technology," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 34(1), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Attila Havas & K. Matthias Weber, 2016. "The ‘fit’ between forward-looking activities and the innovation policy governance sub-system," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1601, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    6. Jiří Malý & Marek Lichter & Tomáš Krejčí, 2024. "The elusive role of urban form, centrality and scale in the absence of a metropolitan planning agenda: Central European perspective," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), March.
    7. Alexandra Kriz & Catherine Welch, 2018. "Innovation and internationalisation processes of firms with new-to-the-world technologies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 496-522, May.
    8. Chuan-Hoo Tan & Juliana Sutanto & Chee Wei Phang & Anar Gasimov, 2014. "Using Personal Communication Technologies for Commercial Communications: A Cross-Country Investigation of Email and SMS," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 307-327, June.

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