Social construction of technology (also referred to as SCOT) is a theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies. Advocates of SCOT -- that is, social constructivists -- argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology. They also argue that the ways in which a technology is used cannot be understood without understanding how that technology is embedded in its social context.

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  • Social construction of technology (also referred to as SCOT) is a theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies. Advocates of SCOT -- that is, social constructivists -- argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology. They also argue that the ways in which a technology is used cannot be understood without understanding how that technology is embedded in its social context. SCOT is a response to technological determinism and is sometimes known as technological constructivism. SCOT draws on work done in the constructivist school of the sociology of scientific knowledge, and its subtopics include actor-network theory (a branch of the sociology of science and technology) and historical analysis of sociotechnical systems, such as the work of historian Thomas P. Hughes. Leading adherents of SCOT include Wiebe Bijker and Trevor Pinch. SCOT holds that those who seek to understand the reasons for acceptance or rejection of a technology should look to the social world. It is not enough, according to SCOT, to explain a technology's success by saying that it is "the best" -- researchers must look at how the criteria of being "the best" is defined and what groups and stakeholders participate in defining it. In particular, they must ask who defines the technical criteria by which success is measured, why technical criteria are defined in this way, and who is included or excluded. SCOT is not only a theory, but also a methodology: it formalizes the steps and principles to follow when one wants to analyze the causes of technological failures or successes.
  • Die Social Construction of Technology ist eine Spielart des Sozialkonstruktivismus, die sich mit Technikgenese, also der Entstehung von Techniken befasst. SCOT baut auf Theorien der Wissenssoziologie auf, beispielsweise den Arbeiten von David Bloor und H. M. Collins. Die Theorie kam in den 1980er Jahren auf und ist mittlerweile recht gängig; ein bekannter Vertreter ist Wiebe E. Bijker.
  • La construction sociale des technologies (Social construction of technology ou SCOT) est un domaine de recherches sociologiques issu du constructivisme social qui étudie la place qu'occupe les facteurs sociaux dans le développement des technologie et di progrès scientifique et technique. Cette démarche, issue de chercheurs anglo-saxons dans les années 1980, tente de montrer l'importance des interactions entre la société et le monde scientifique/technique et vice versa.
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  • Social construction of technology (also referred to as SCOT) is a theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies. Advocates of SCOT -- that is, social constructivists -- argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology. They also argue that the ways in which a technology is used cannot be understood without understanding how that technology is embedded in its social context.
  • Die Social Construction of Technology ist eine Spielart des Sozialkonstruktivismus, die sich mit Technikgenese, also der Entstehung von Techniken befasst. SCOT baut auf Theorien der Wissenssoziologie auf, beispielsweise den Arbeiten von David Bloor und H. M. Collins. Die Theorie kam in den 1980er Jahren auf und ist mittlerweile recht gängig; ein bekannter Vertreter ist Wiebe E. Bijker.
  • La construction sociale des technologies (Social construction of technology ou SCOT) est un domaine de recherches sociologiques issu du constructivisme social qui étudie la place qu'occupe les facteurs sociaux dans le développement des technologie et di progrès scientifique et technique. Cette démarche, issue de chercheurs anglo-saxons dans les années 1980, tente de montrer l'importance des interactions entre la société et le monde scientifique/technique et vice versa.
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  • Social construction of technology
  • Social Construction of Technology
  • Construction sociale des technologies
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