Week Twelve (looking back): Pinch & Bijker

This week, I went back and re-read Pinch & Bijker's "The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts", because I felt that this article would be useful in looking at the history of artefacts (such as the contact lens which I would be analyzing in another class's paper). In particular, "SCOT theory" or social construction of technology, which looks at technological development from a social perspective (human actions shape technology) was very interesting and useful.

I theorized that medical doctors would have been the ones to push for scleral contact lens that could act as protective coverings to help the eye recover from infections or prevent inflammation, and that the minority social group of contact lens wearers (vs. glasses wearers) are probably the reason hydrogel contact lenses were researched and developed in the late 1900's (early contact lenses were hard and could only be worn for a few hours due to discomfort). As a result, people now have access to soft, oxygen-friendly contact lenses for daily use. SCOT is something I will probably do more research on, and continually try to apply to various artefacts. Does anyone have an object which they feel they could apply the SCOT theory to?

References

Pinch, Trevor J. and Bijker. Wiebe E. (1984). The social construction of facts and artefacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. Social Studies of Science 14: 399-441.