"737-Cabriolet": the limits of knowledge and the sociology of inevitable failure. Downer, J. American journal of sociology, vol. 117(no. 3):p. 725–762, 2011. 1abstract bibtex This article looks at the fateful 1988 fuselage failure of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 to suggest and illustrate a new perspective on the sociology of technological accidents. Drawing on core insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge, it highlights, and then challenges, a fundamental principle underlying our understanding of technological risk: a realist epistemology that tacitly assumes that technological knowledge is objectively knowable and that “failures” always connote “errors” that are, in principle, foreseeable. From here, it suggests a new conceptual tool by proposing a novel category of man-made calamity: the “epistemic accident,” grounded in a constructivist understanding of knowledge. It concludes by exploring the implications of epistemic accidents and a constructivist approach to failure, sketching their relationship to broader issues concerning technology and society, and reexamining conventional ideas about technology, accountability, and governance.
@article{downer_737-cabriolet_2011,
title = {"737-{Cabriolet}": the limits of knowledge and the sociology of inevitable failure},
volume = {vol. 117},
shorttitle = {"737-{Cabriolet}"},
abstract = {This article looks at the fateful 1988 fuselage failure of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 to suggest and illustrate a new perspective on the sociology of technological accidents. Drawing on core insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge, it highlights, and then challenges, a fundamental principle underlying our understanding of technological risk: a realist epistemology that tacitly assumes that technological knowledge is objectively knowable and that “failures” always connote “errors” that are, in principle, foreseeable. From here, it suggests a new conceptual tool by proposing a novel category of man-made calamity: the “epistemic accident,” grounded in a constructivist understanding of knowledge. It concludes by exploring the implications of epistemic accidents and a constructivist approach to failure, sketching their relationship to broader issues concerning technology and society, and reexamining conventional ideas about technology, accountability, and governance.},
language = {eng},
number = {no. 3},
journal = {American journal of sociology},
author = {Downer, John},
year = {2011},
note = {1},
keywords = {10 Ignorance, uncertainty and risk, Ignorance, incertitude et risque, PRINTED (Fonds papier)},
pages = {p. 725--762},
}
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