Material Ordering and the Care of Things

Jerome Denis and David Pontille
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Jerome Denis: Laboratoire de Traitement et de Communication de l'Information, Telecom ParisTech
David Pontille: Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Mines ParisTech

No 34, CSI Working Papers Series from Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech

Abstract: Drawing on an ethnographic study of the installation and maintenance of Paris subway wayfinding system, this article attempts to discuss and specify previous claims that highlight stability and immutability as crucial aspects of material ordering processes. Though subway signs have been standardized and their consistency has been invested in to stabilize riders environment, they appear as fragile and transforming entities in the hands of maintenance workers. The stabilization of subway signs goes through the acknowledgment of their vulnerability. Practices that deal with material fragility are at the center of what authors propose to term a care of things.

Keywords: care; maintenance; material ecology; material vulnerability; ordering Devices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2013-10
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:emn:wpaper:034

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