La tecnología como institución: ¿qué nos pueden enseñar los estudios sociales de la tecnología?

Trevor Pinch

doi:10.48160/18517072re27.391

Authors

Trevor Pinch Departamento de Estudios de la Ciencia y la Tecnología de la Universidad de Cornell.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48160/18517072re27.391

Keywords:

institutions, social construction of technology, synthezizer

Abstract

Is Technology an Institution? This article asks provocatively if sociology can study the social and the material aspects of institutions. Whilst traditionally sociology has been concerned only with the social side of interactions in society, the material aspects (including technology) has been left for the interest of other sciences.
The author proposes to analyze technology as a constituent part of society, that moreover can be think as an institution. In order to show how social choices get frozen and embedded within technology and, therefore inform institutions, this study draw upon a piece of technology: the electronic music synthesizer, following framework of The Social Construction of Technology (scot).
The article suggest how this approach may be helpful to overcome the dualism between the social and the material. It also suggests the need to rethinking the categories of analysis of institutions and organizations as well as in technology.

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