Automatic Vehicle Identification: A Test of Theories of Technology

Abstract

Two contrasting theories-actor-network theory and nondecision making-are separately applied to the same case study, namely, technologies for automatically identifying road vehicles. By this process, the strengths and weaknesses of each approach are highlighted: The actor-network approach is useful for understanding local processes but lacks tools for easily illuminating patterns across countries; by contrast, the concept of nondecision making is useful for explaining the general lack of implementation of technology for automatic vehicle identification but not for explaining variations between developments in different countries. This study highlights the importance of attempting to compare theories by using the same case study.Traditional approaches to technology have distinguished between artifacts (the physical side of technology) and humans and their interactions (the social side of technology). Within this broad framework, many views of the nature and dynamics of technology have been explored: technology as neutral and the related use-abuse model (implicit in many works), technological determinism (Misa 1988;Winner 1977), technology as shaped by society (MacKenzie and Wajcman 1985), technology as determined by society (Dickson 1974), and technology as part of a labor process (Braverman 1974). (Of course, these approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive or comprehensive.) These and other perspectives have been developed and applied in various ways. The important point here is that they treat society as something to be investigated separate from, or in addition to, artifacts.This assumption has been challenged in the 1980s by what has been called the new sociology of technology. two anonymous referees for useful comments on earlier drafts. We have benefited from discussions with Stewart Russell on power, interests, and nondecision making.

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