The Social Shaping of Technology

This paper defines and illustrates the so-called 'social shaping of technology' perspective. It starts with a brief critique of traditional approaches to the social analysis of technical change, emphasising the extent to which such approaches imply a technological determinism, use a simplified linear model of the innovation process, tend to treat the technology as a 'black box', and are preoccupied with the 'social impacts' of a largely pre-determined technical 'trajectory'. In contrast, an alternative approach is described, which 'opens up the black box', asking questions about the origin and evolution of the technology itself. This is illustrated with a simplified model, adapting the old 'linear' version. Such analysis draws attention to the flexibility of the innovation process, and the extent to which choices and 'feedback' are endemic to it. It exposes the range of 'social' (i.e. economic, cultural, political, organisational) factors which help to 'shape' that process - with both theoretical and policy implications. The paper presents case studies of innovation in statistics, radio astronomy, missile guidance systems, CN machine tools and robotics to illustrate these themes, and closes with some more speculative reflections.