Must We Embody Context?

Area of Science:

• History of Science and Technology
• Sociology of Technology

Background:

• The historiography of technology has traditionally focused on physical artifacts and machines.
• Contextualist approaches have evolved, incorporating systems theory, social construction, and actor-network theory.
• The discipline has centered its analysis on tangible technological objects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To broaden the scope of the history of technology to include non-corporeal elements.
• To encourage scholars to apply history-of-technology approaches to methods and financial materiality.
• To re-evaluate the analytical focus beyond physical machines.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing scholarship in the historiography of technology.
• Analysis of contextualist approaches, including systems theory, social construction, and actor-network theory.
• Examination of the concept of materiality in historical analysis.

Main Results:

• Current approaches in the history of technology primarily focus on physical artifacts.
• There is a recognized need to expand the analytical framework to encompass non-physical aspects of technology.
• Financial materiality, alongside corporeal materiality, should be considered.

Conclusions:

• The history of technology can be enriched by studying non-corporeal phenomena, such as methods.
• Applying history-of-technology approaches to financial aspects offers new insights.
• A more inclusive understanding of technology's history is necessary.