Just finished reading Chapter 1 in "Systems Practice" as part of Activity 2.5.
Interested in the concept of a 'social technology', and has to look up the meaning of the word 'to reify' to make sure that I really understood what it meant. The OED defines it as "to make (something abstract) more concrete or real", and I thought about what that means in terms of this social technology concept.
Technology is usually used to refer to something concrete or otherwise solid, whereas a social technology is some form of machinery that has been created to make society work in some way. Social rules, procedures, etc. The problem is that this has originated from a set of abstract ideas and so the resulting technology does not necessarily have to be the only technology: if we had started out by thinking differently we would have a different social technology. It's easy to lose sight of that in everyday life and take the way we do things for granted.
It makes me think about the discussion that I listened to at the CycleSheffield meeting last night about the introduction of special trains on a local railway service that cannot carry bicycles. These will replace ordinary trains that do carry bicycles, but the thinking high up in the Passenger Transport Executive that has made the decision did not take bicycles into consideration so we end up with a new social procedure that excludes cycle transport.
Now I have to think about what I do when I do what I do.
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