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Material Ordering and the Care of Things

Author

Listed:
  • Jerome Denis

    (Laboratoire de Traitement et de Communication de l'Information, Telecom ParisTech)

  • David Pontille

    (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Mines ParisTech)

Abstract

Drawing on an ethnographic study of the installation and maintenance of Paris subway wayfinding system, this article attempts to discuss and specify previous claims that highlight stability and immutability as crucial aspects of material ordering processes. Though subway signs have been standardized and their consistency has been invested in to stabilize riders environment, they appear as fragile and transforming entities in the hands of maintenance workers. The stabilization of subway signs goes through the acknowledgment of their vulnerability. Practices that deal with material fragility are at the center of what authors propose to term a care of things.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerome Denis & David Pontille, 2013. "Material Ordering and the Care of Things," CSI Working Papers Series 034, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    • Handle: RePEc:emn:wpaper:034
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    File URL: http://www.csi.mines-paristech.fr/working-papers/DLWP.php?wp=WP_CSI_034.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Núria Vallès-Peris & Cecilio Angulo & Miquel Domènech, 2018. "Children’s Imaginaries of Human-Robot Interaction in Healthcare," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    care; maintenance; material ecology; material vulnerability; ordering Devices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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