Concepts · Across science and technology
Interpretive flexibility
Different groups can understand the same artifact differently.
Overview
Interpretive flexibility draws attention to competing meanings and definitions of problems. In SCOT, different social groups can see different purposes or shortcomings in the same technology. Studying how some interpretations become established helps explain stabilization without assuming that the final design was inevitable.
Connections
Field
Social construction of technology →Thinkers
Trevor Pinch →Thinkers
Wiebe Bijker →Articles
The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts →