From its advent in the latter 1980s, the 'new' sociology of technology purposefully focused it attention on the emergence and design of major new technologies . This was due in large measure to the intellectual heritage of the sociology of scientific knowledge. But it was also, justifiably, a reaction against the technological determinism of most 'impact' studies in the 'technology and society' tradition. Yet, the 1987 book which really put constructivist sociology of technology on the map, The Social Construction of Technological Systems, included in its collection an article by Ruth Schwartz Cowan, 'The Consumption Junction', which challenged the Emerging orthodoxy by calling for research into the sociotechnical pro- Cesses surrounding users, not just designers-in particular, ordinary People and consumer technologies rather than the powerful institutions And large industrial or military technologies which have been the focus of Most seminal work since.
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