| Chapter 1: | Converting Consumers: The Conceptual Dependence of Controversial Artifacts |
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Basalla attributes the motivations of these selectors to socioeconomic rationalist arguments based on profitability and technical superiority (for example, the superior performance of gasoline cars over steam and electric vehicles for long-distance travel, their lower maintenance cost, and so forth) but takes for granted the motivations of the larger society.
Why would the rest of the buying public replace their horses simply because a group of Midwestern businessmen advocated gasoline cars? Is it simply a matter of selectors imposing their will on the rest of society? Social constructivist theories, such as the social construction of technology (SCOT), seek to show more complexity in the process. However, similar to Basalla’s view, SCOT also adheres to the idea of technological diffusion as a matter of one group’s choice.
Social Groups
SCOT characterizes technological change as a matter of one social group rising above others to impose a standard interpretation on a given artifact.14 The unit of analysis in this case is social groups. Like Basalla, who described a voluntaristic approach to technological change, proponents of SCOT argue that humans can impose meaning on an artifact. However, unlike Basalla, who believes that artifacts bring about other artifacts, proponents of SCOT believe that social groups bring about technological diversity.
SCOT recognizes three stages in technological change and diffusion occurring along a process of variation and elimination. The first stage involves the identification of social groups with a stake in the development of a particular artifact; their relevancy is a function of their capacity to influence the artifact’s content and form. The second stage, interpretative flexibility, describes how these interpretations conflict with one other. In the final stage, closure and stabilization, one social group’s interpretation prevails, and a standard is established.