Matthew E Edgar

“The formulation of critical theory is not an option; theories and findings in the social sciences are likely to have practical (and political) consequences regardless of whether or not the sociological observer or policy-maker decides that they can be ‘applied’ to a given practical issue.”
― Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration

“When the social groups involved in designing and using technology decide that a problem is solved, they stabilize the technology. The result is closure. Closure and stabilization, however, are not isolated events; they occur repeatedly during technological development. To”
― Wiebe E. Bijker, The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology

“The term “pattern” is preferable to “model” because a pattern is a metaphor suggesting looseness and a tendency to become unraveled.”
― Wiebe E. Bijker, The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology

“The paradox, though, was already evident: that the more solidly the foundations of an English state were cemented together, so the harder did it become to present the island as a single realm. Seen in this light, Athelstan’s conquest of York, the feat which had first served to project the power of the West Saxon monarchy deep into the north of Britain, can be seen as the decisive event in the making of Scotland as well as of England. There”
― Tom Holland, Athelstan: The Making of England