The social construction of technology

Pinch asserts that there was a radical impulse that informed all the work carried out under the “constructivist” mantle, and that this radical impulse perhaps matters more than the specific labels used. The social construction of technology (SCOT) emerged directly from the earlier sociology of scientific knowledge. As part of the sociology of technology approach, it seeks to understand how technology (like sound, Pinch’s current field of research) is socially constructed or shaped. Berger and Luckmann (1966/1967) supported a “constructivist” view on science and technology. Although Pinch does not follow Berger and Luckmann’s argumentation in detail, he acknowledges that it paved the way for the social construction of technology. Pinch especially highlights the inherent methodological foundation that The Social Construction of Reality provides for science and technology studies in the mundane practices of humans.