Technologies, Texts and Affordances

TitleTechnologies, Texts and Affordances
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsHutchby, Ian
JournalSociology
Volume35
Issue2
Pagination441-456
ISSN0038-0385
AbstractIn 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.
URLhttps://doi.org/10.1177/S0038038501000219
DOI10.1177/S0038038501000219