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Technologies, Texts and Affordances
Ian Hutchby
Department of Human Sciences Brunel University
In contrast to recent sociological emphases on the social shaping of technology, this article proposes and illustrates a way of analysing the technological shaping of sociality. Drawing on the concept of affordances (Gibson 1979), the article argues for a recognition of the constraining, as well as enabling, materiality of artefacts. The argument is set in the theoretical context of one of the most recent and comprehensive statements of anti-essentialism (Grint and Woolgar 1997). The position is illustrated through a reinterpretation of some case studies used by proponents of the radical constructivist position.
Key Words: Affordances • materiality • realism • social constructivism • social shaping of technology
Sociology, Vol. 35, No. 2,
441-456 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/S0038038501000219
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