ABSTRACT

Traditionally, sociologists and anthropologists have been concerned with the role artifacts play in maintaining social order (e.g., Durkheim, 1965; Geertz, 1973). For instance, consumption of different kinds of goods can symbolize membership in a particular class or status group, thereby reproducing societal stratification (Bourdieu, 1984a; Veblen, 1979). In a similar fashion, organizational researchers have begun to explore the role of artifacts in establishing and maintaining organizational order (e.g., Gagliardi, 1990; Pratt & Rafaeli, 1997). They have been particularly interested in how artifacts affect the sensemaking activities of various organizational stakeholders and how managers can better appreciate and manage these meanings (Cappetta & Gioia, chap. 11, this volume; Harquail, chap. 9, this volume; Schultz & Hatch, chap. 8, this volume). While it is clear that artifacts certainly do play a role as symbols in maintaining social and organizational order, these studies tend to downplay other aspects of artifacts (e.g., instrumental or aesthetic) that have important effects on social and organizational action (Rafaeli & Vilnai-Yavetz, forthcoming). More particularly for our purposes, most studies have conceptualized and studied artifacts in a relatively static way and elided a broader understanding of how artifacts are produced and come to circulate in the world (Becker, 1982; Latour, 1987).