A New Printing Revolution? 3D Printing as an Agent of Socio-Political Change

There is a growing interest in 3D printers because of the technical and economic implications they could have. The objective of this paper is to take the analysis further by asking to what extent they could also have a range of socio-political effects, as a consequence of their impact on the material practices of production and consumption. The first part of this contribution re-examines the promises associated with this technology and highlights its prospects for restoring individual and collective capabilities (I). Secondly, the ways in which these machines could destabilize the industrial bases of contemporary societies, and therefore the economic order, are analyzed, along with the political implications of such a shift (II). Finally, the latent constraints and the points of friction that these technological developments may encounter and that might affect future trajectories are clarified (III).