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Wiebe E. Bijker | |
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| Born | (1951-03-19)19 March 1951 (age 74) |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | University of Twente |
Notable ideas | Social Construction of Technology-approach |
| Website | https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/w.bijker |
Wiebe E. Bijker (born 19 March 1951,Delft) is a Dutch professor Emeritus, former chair of the Department of Social Science and Technology atMaastricht University in theNetherlands.
Bijker's father was an engineer involved in implementing theDelta Plan after a disastrousdike breach in the Netherlands in 1953 when young Bijker was two years old and later became deputy director of the Delft Hydraulics Laboratory.[1] Presumably, the unique fact of parts of the Netherlands being below sea level, the well-known concerns in innovation surrounding this condition for centuries, and his father's involvement all contributed to the younger Bijker's interest in technology studies.[2]
After finishingGymnasium inEmmeloord (1969), the younger Bijker received hisBSc degree in philosophy from theUniversity of Amsterdam (1974), hisengineer's degree in physical engineering from theDelft University of Technology (1976), and hisPhD degree from theUniversity of Twente in 1990.
Bijker was anassistant andassociate professor of philosophy from 1987 at theMaastricht University before becomingfull professor of technology and society in 1994. Bijker's fields of research include social and historical studies ofscience, technology and society; theories of technology development; methodology of science, technology and society studies; democratisation of technological culture; science and technology policies; ICT, multimedia and the social-cultural dimensions of the information society; gender and technology; and meta studies of architecture, planning, and civil engineering. WithTrevor Pinch he is considered as one of the main adherents of theSocial Construction of Technology-approach, (SCOT)[3] their 1984 article "The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts: or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology might Benefit Each Other" is cited as the first substantive work to elaborate on the SCOT perspective.[4] Central to the SCOT theoretical framework is the idea of 'interpretive flexibility', that is that the products of scientific and technological endeavours are not fixed on a given trajectory determined by a physical nature, but rather interact with the social environments in which they are produced.[4] To illustrate their theorectical argument Pinch and Bijker, in their 1984 article, use the development of the bicycle and the substantive shaping of this through the influences of various user groups, manufacturers and interested others.[5]
On 12 May 2017 Wiebe Bijker became emeritus professor.[6]
