The social constructivist approach: As a new dimension to understand the implications and knowledge system of Technology and Science, the text main draws from the writings of scholars like Layton(1977), Whitley (1972), Bijker(1984) and pinch(1984). This approach mainly emphasizes, how Technology is alienated as a separate concept even while studying the consequences and implications of innovations derived from it. They criticize how hard Sciences and its implications were perceived in a conventional way and being deterministic by negating the social factors. They also criticize how the sociology of knowledge perceived technology and Science as different entities, even though the division is blurred by the social context where it is situated.
Reconstructing man and machine: The title of one of the chapters itself, it gives a different perception about technology and its relation to humans in general and artificial intelligence and it’s the relation to man. This theoretical framework mainly deconstructs the popular idea of ' technology as the mirror of man'. It started to question the very idea of 'uniqueness of man' and his relation to technology.
Technology as a tool for sociological analysis: while negating the idea of understanding technology from outside, or in other words considering it as an object, Michel Collins reflexive take on engineers and other experts, gives a different notion of how the study of the technology itself becoming an unpacking tool for sociological analysis. This analytical tool helps us to navigate the social dimensions of technology from an insider perspective.
