Pattern Recognition

The criticism of the SCOT (social construction of technology) approach to analyzing the relationship between technology and society is that the focus on the individual and micro-level can lead to a neglect of higher-level power relations and imbalances that play a key role in shaping individual choices and behaviors with respect to technologies. Yet the social determinism that drives the political economy approach seems to lead to an equally narrow, cloistered view. And, unlike Graham and Marvin, I see no easy way of integrating the two approaches. It seems that to admit the validity of one approach denies the power of the other.