Social Technology: conceptual appropriation and political implications

Abstract

This paper aims to understand how, over the last 20 years, the concept of Social Technology has emerged, evolved, become tense, and undergone semantic appropriations in Latin America. To this end, it starts with a survey of scientific production on the subject available in bibliographic repositories and production in the form of books, which are basic on the subject. Among the findings is the identification that the polysemy surrounding the concept of Social Technology (ST) results from the disputes and tensions between different actors - academics, social movements, governments, and civil society organizations - who use it for various purposes. On the one hand, this plurality of meanings reflects the interdisciplinary richness and wide dissemination of the ST concept. On the other hand, it generates weaknesses, such as conceptual dilution and the difficulty of mobilizing around effective public policies. The concept of ST can be considered an epistemic, practical, and political category crossed by tensions, disputes, and co-optations - and is still often used simply to adjectivize certain practices or artifacts without any associated problematization. These findings point to the need to revisit the concept and strengthen it, facing the challenge of the risk of its emptying, especially in the face of the emergence of other terms which, despite seeming close, are more aligned with the purposes of the market and hegemonic rationality.