[CITASA] Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?

[Caroline Haythornthwaite]

I have to agree with Chris here -- seems you've thrown out everything that 
makes a sociology of technology.

Andrea, what do you consider in the term "technology"? This may be as 
ambiguous as asking what is meant by "community" but I think we have to start 
with what "technology" is. 

I've always like the management approach -- technology is a particular way of 
getting work done. To me, it can included technologies of rules and 
procedures, equipment, organizational structures, and systems (e.g., 
educational systems). Technology constrains not only how we do things, but 
also how we think about doing things, and how we reward what gets done.

I would certainly include science and technology studies, sociology of science, 
sociology of knowledge because they are particularly focused on systems of 
production and organization -- from equipment to disciplinary practices.  And 
I'd include social informatics because it focuses on how information 
technologies facilitate and constrain practices.

So the issue might be whether the sociology of technology (singular) you are 
looking for is an overarching framework across these separate endeavors, or a 
better name than social informatics for the case where technology is only taken 
to be information and communication technology-based.

/Caroline



---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 12:52:54 -0500
>From: Chris Anderson <cwa2103 at columbia.edu>  
>Subject: Re: [CITASA] Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?  
>To: communication and information technology section asa 
<citasa at list.citasa.org>
>
>   I guess I am curious (and I know I am opening a can
>   of worms here) why the "sociology of technologies"
>   is not some of all of those things, rather than
>   anything unique in and of itself? In other words,
>   maybe it exists ONLY in the overlaps. What's wrong
>   with that, apart from the administrative
>   difficulties such an answer may cause?
>
>   Chris Anderson
>
>   --
>
>   PhD Student, Communications
>   Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
>   cwa2103 at columbia.edu
>
>   On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Andrea Tapia
>   <atapia at ist.psu.edu> wrote:
>
>     Hello CITASA folks.
>
>     As many of you know, I work in an I-school
>     (Information school) and am the
>     only sociologist on the faculty.
>
>     Recently I have been asked to define the
>     "sociology of technology/ies" This
>     has been a surprisingly difficult task.
>     What I have been doing is staking out boundaries,
>     stating what it is not,
>     therefore, what I'll have left is what it is,
>     right?
>
>     So far I have removed the following, Sociology of
>     Technology/ies may overlap
>     with--but is NOT science and technology studies,
>     not the sociology of
>     science, not the sociology of knowledge, not the
>     sociology of
>     communications, not social informatics, not a
>     bunch of theories like
>     Structuration/Actor
>     Network/SCOT/SST/Institutionalism/network science
>     etc.
>
>     So, I ask you, what is left? What do we do that is
>     unique? What are our core
>     competencies?
>
>     I've found a couple readings that have helped a
>     bit, but I am hoping some of
>     you can aid me in my quest.
>
>     1.     Shields, Mark A. 1997. ³Reinventing
>     Technology in Social Theory.²
>     pages 187-216. Is a book chapter in...Current
>     Perspectives in Social Theory:
>     1997 By Jennifer M. Lehmann, Ben Agger Published
>     by Emerald Group Pub Ltd,
>     1997
>
>     2.    Saskia Sassen ³Towards a Sociology of
>     Information Technology,² Current
>     Sociology, May 2002, Vol. 50(3): 365­388 SAGE
>     Publications
>
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--------------------------------------
Caroline Haythornthwaite
Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820

Mail will reach me at both haythorn at uiuc.edu AND haythorn at illinois.edu.  NOTE: There is no 'u' before 'illinois' in this address.