Before revision: Blacksmith at work, Nuremberg c. 1606 The anthropology of technology (AoT) is a unique, diverse, and growing field of study that bears much in common with kindred developments in the sociology and history of technology: first, a growing refusal to view the role of technology in human societies as the irreversible and predetermined consequence of a given technology's putative “inner logic” ; and second, a focus on the social and cultural factors that shape a given technology's development and impact in a society.
After revision: Blacksmith at work, Nuremberg c. 1606 The anthropology of technology (AoT) is a unique, diverse, and growing field of study that bears much in common with kindred developments in the sociology and history of technology: first, a growing refusal to view the role of technology in human societies as the irreversible and predetermined consequence of a given technology's putative "inner logic" ; and second, a focus on the social and cultural factors that shape a given technology's development and impact in a society.