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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access published online on November 11, 2009
Cambridge Journal of Economics, doi:10.1093/cje/bep068
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

How is technology made?—That is the question!

Wiebe E. Bijker*

* Maastricht University

Address for correspondence: Maastricht University

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’.

Key Words: Social construction • Ontology • Relativism • Realism, Idealism • Technology • Technological culture • Technological frame

JEL classifications: O30, O31, O33

Manuscript received April 9, 2009; final version received August 21, 2009.


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