GEO2-2274 NWI-Science, Technology & Society (GEO22274)
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Summary articles part 1 Science, Technology and Society (GEO2-2274)
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Course
GEO2-2274 NWI-Science, Technology & Society (GEO22274)
Institution
Universiteit Utrecht (UU)
First part of the summary about the required articles necessary for the first exam of the course Science, Technology and Society. It involves the theories Large Technological Systems (LTS), Social Construction of Technology (SCOT), Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Mode 2 Knowledge Production.
GEO2-2274 NWI-Science, Technology & Society (GEO22274)
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LARGE TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS (LTS)
The evolution of large technological systems - Hughes (1987)
Technological systems = messy, complex, problem-solving (reordering the material world,
making it more productive) → socially constructed and society shaping.
→ components: physical artifacts, organizations, legislative artifacts and
natural resources → are socially constructed artifacts.
→ invented and developed by system builders (entrepreneurs) =
trans-disciplinary problem-solvers → manipulate and re-align
heterogeneous system elements to identify and solve critical problems.
→ portrayed as heroes (protagonists) → types: (a) inventor-entrepreneur
(inv+dev), (b) manager-entrepreneur (innov+comp+growth), (c)
financier- entrepreneur (growth+consol), (d) engineer-entrepreneur
(consolid).
If TS is not organised like this, the system will fall apart → if something is
removed from the system, the system has to be affected.
Artifact = (non-/)physical component in a system that interacts with other artifacts.
→ they compensate → FEX. electric light and power system → change in resistance brings
compensatory changes in transmission, distribution and generation components.
Ideal: closed system (without environment), bureaucracy, routinization, eliminating uncertainty.
→ 2 environments with an open TS: (a) ones on who they depend and (b) ones dependent on
them → both a one-way influence → environmental factors not part of system (not under
control).
Evolution of LTSs: (7th phase of LTS evolution = stagnation and decline)
1. Invention: radical during innovation phase (FEX. Edison, electric light), conservative
during competition and growth → improvements of earlier failed inventions that are
independent (free from constraints of organizations) and professional → can be
independent, but not professional (become professional by experience) → results: deskill
workers, engineers and managers, wipe out financial investments and stimulate anxiety
in large organizations.
2. Development: successful radical inventions give rise to TS → one inventor may be
responsible for all/most following inventions of a TS → is the inventor-entrepreneur →
invention embodied with economic, political and social characteristics it needs to survive
→ harmonizing component characteristics results in patentable inventions → creating
SCOT → problems arise from the systematic relationships of system components.
3. Innovation: combining invented and developed physical components into a complex
system of manufacturing, sales and service → add system components to enter market.
4. Technology transfer: transfer of tech to different environments, at any time in history
TS → system is suited for survival in a particular time and place → problems in
transferring to another time or different environment → often adaptation necessary for
transfer.
5. Technological style: adaptation is a response to different environments, leading to style
→ corresponds with SCOT and shaped by numerous, diverse factors → variation in style
not by quantity of output, but in way it is distributed, generated and t ransmitted →
natural geography shapes style (it influences tech) → regional styles emerge in national.
6. Growth, Competition, Consolidation: causes of growth; (a) economies of scale (FEX.
savings in materials and heat energy by using large containers), (b) drive for personal
, power and organizational amplification → BUT, large-scale output and organizational
size are not necessary for profitability and personal power → (c) drive for high diversity,
load factors and a good economic mix → extension over large geographical area
increases diversity and improves the load factor → load factor (growth) = ratio of average
output to max output during a specific period → indicator of a return on investment.
Consolidation; system has acquired momentum = appearance of autonomy and that
appearance is due to (a) mass, (b) velocity and (c) goal-directedness a TS has acquired.
→ momentum more useful than autonomy: M does not contradict social construction of tech and
does not support (wrong) belief in technological determinism (tech drives innovation).
→ includes structural factors and contingent events (mogelijke gebeurtenissen) → high-
momentum systems: interconnection of production and distribution into high flow systems.
→ actor networks add to system momentum → concepts related: vested interests (spelende
belangen), fixed assets (vaste lasten), sunk costs (already spent money that can’t be recovered).
Reverse salient (limits to potential) = technical/organisational anomaly when TS expands →
progress on one front causes backwardness elsewhere → 2 key features: (1) keeps entire system
from expanding and (2) is an element of the system that is lagging.
→ response; inventions that increase output, created by problem-solver → if reverse salient
cannot be corrected within the existing system, the solution is a new, competing system.
Reverse salients and load factor refer to internal dynamics, momentum to external effects.
Presumptive anomaly = under some future conditions the conventional system will fail or a
radically different system will do better → difference with reverse salient: PA constantly stresses
the role of science in identifying reverse salients.
Large technical systems: concepts and issues - Joerges (1988)
Large technical system = system of many interconnected elements to understand co-evolution
of technology and society → distinct type of technical system with dynamics → functions as a
network → to understand and analyse socio technical change.
→ system of technical components (artifacts), i ndividuals (independently or in organisations)
and institutions (knowledge, rules, routines) → broken down in sub and subsub systems.
→ evidence LTS: inventor-engineers → motive forces, resources and problem-solving styles →
are beginnings of LTS and sometimes transfer can be traced back to inventor-entrepreneurs.
Big Technology = high risk and high threat tech → more uncertainty in terms of health,
environmental damage, social identity and finance than conventional production technologies.
2 aims of social research: (1) turn from images of things to (technical) things. (2) specify technical
scale and explore implications of large, growing scale in technical and social phenomena.
System = creation, fitting together, projecting in business world and non-engineering activities.
Networks of power = series of conceptualizations that promise to be flexible enough for other
datasets derived from other micro and macro perspectives.
→ micro-macro problem: concerns about inner structure of LTS (interorganizational networks).
Strategies for recognizing embedded tech:
(1) conceptual strategy = making tech susceptible to social science analysis by looking at
analogies with other social phenomena.
(2) explanatory issues = what makes technical systems different from other cultural
artifacts (FEX. organizations, ideologies)? → difficulty: lack of elaborated theories.
2 explanatory strategies for risk-analysis: (1) aimed at understanding what makes for system
accidents, (2) aimed at explaining what makes even very large systems almost failure-free.
External vs internal: are LTSs responding to demands and requirements "outside" themselves?
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