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Technologies, Texts and Affordances

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2001

Ian Hutchby
Ian Hutchby
Affiliation:
Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, Middlesex, UK
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Abstract

In contrast to recent sociological emphases on the social shaping of technology, this article proposes and illustrates a way of analysing the technological shaping of sociality. Drawing on the concept of affordances (Gibson 1979), the article argues for a recognition of the constraining, as well as enabling, materiality of artefacts. The argument is set in the theoretical context of one of the most recent and comprehensive statements of anti-essentialism (Grint and Woolgar 1997). The position is illustrated through a reinterpretation of some case studies used by proponents of the radical constructivist position.

Keywords

affordancesmaterialityrealismsocial constructivismsocial shaping of technology
Type
Original Articles
Information
Sociology , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , May 2001 , pp. 441 - 456
Copyright
2001 BSA Publications Limited

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