Citation

Bijker WE. Camb. J. Econ. 2010; 34(1): 63-76.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Cambridge Political Economy Society, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/cje/bep068

PMID

unavailable

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'.