It is generally accepted that analyses of knowledge production and technological artifacts lack a multidisciplinary approach. Particularly the interaction is very weak between analysts who adopt sociological approaches and those who study scientific knowledge and technological artifacts from an economic perspective. This article reports an attempt to integrate these two modes of analysis, identifying the main differences and convergent points between them. It is argued that while Economics overlooks important elements for the understanding of these processes- such as the interests of the social actors, the power structures and the influence of the political aspects - Sociology, disregards many of the basic economic aspects of technological production, such as economic agencies, institutions and systems. The result is the occurrence of vague spaces of analysis that could be better explored if a complementary effort existed between both disciplines. This study explores the possibilities of dialogue between one approach of Economics thought, represented by the Evolutionary Economics (EE), and two approaches of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, represented by the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and the Actor Network Theory (ANT), arguing that the analytical categories of each approach may complement the others, thus allowing a more consistent characterization of the production of technological artifacts.
Technological production; Evolutionary Economics; Sociology of Technology
