The phrase the social construction of technology is used in at least two different, though overlapping, ways. Broadly it refers to a theory about how a variety of social factors and forces shape technological development, technological change, and the meanings associated with technology. More narrowly, the phrase refers to a specific account of the social construction of technology; the acronym SCOT is used to refer to this version of the broader theory (Pinch and Bijker 1987). According to Ronald Kline and Trevor Pinch (1999), SCOT uses the notions of relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, closure and stabilization; the concept of interpretive flexibility is its distinguishing feature. To claim that technology has interpretive flexibility is to claim that artifacts are open to radically different interpretations by various social groups; that is, artifacts are conceived and understood to be different things to different groups.

Contra Technological Determinism