Pergamon Technoloq~~ In Societyv. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUT Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 195-205, 1997 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain 0160-791x/97 $17.00+0.00 PII: s0160-791x(%)ooo64-4 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUT Technological Invention: Post-Modernism and Social Structure zyxwvutsrq F. M. COLLYER ABSTRACT Post-modernist perspectives have enlivened the study of technology in the 199Os, encouraging much-needed theoretical development. Post-modernist thought has brought with it a recognition of the limitations of the social con- structivist vision of technology and technological change, and offered new insights into social processes and practices. This paper identzpes the potential of post-modernist theories of technology for overcoming persistent theoretical prob lems of re@cation, Cartesian dualism, and anti-materialism. Then a number of areas are examined in which new theories of technology are clearly unsatisfac- tory, particularly in regard to the relationship between technologly and social structures of power and inequality. Finally, several suggestions are made for a more adequate theorization of technology and technological invention. 0 1997 Elsevier zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Science Ltd Historical Explanations of Invention zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYX Western societies have long shown an interest in understanding and explaining the origin of creativity, invention, and genius. Ideas about their origins have developed historically, evolving along the way in meaning and usage. Explanations have ranged from the divine, to the genetic, the psycho- logical, and the social. In ancient Greek mythology creation was expressed as a matter of divine intervention. The gods gave people original ideas through breathing on them and thus “ inspiring” them.’ Over the intervening centuries invention has often been explained in terms of human nature, where the inventor was driven by an irrational impulse for creativity and intellectual freedom. This was particularly true during the Romantic era of the nineteenth century, where invention w as Fran Collyer has expertise as a consultant of technology and health policy, and has lectured graduate students in research metboak and epistemology at Macquarie University. She is currently a researcher at the University of Can- berra, Australia, examining cases of the corporatisation and privatisation of government enterprises. 195