Editing Science and technology studies (section)

=== Social construction(s)===
{{Main|Social construction of technology}}

Social constructions are human-created ideas, objects, or events created by a series of choices and interactions.<ref name="Science Technology and Society">{{cite book|last1=Woodhouse|first1=Edward|title=Science Technology and Society|date=2014|publisher=University Readers|location=San Diego|page=255|edition=1st}}</ref> These interactions have consequences that change the perception that different groups of people have on these constructs. Some examples of social construction include class, race, money, and citizenship.

The following also alludes to the notion that not everything is set, a circumstance or result could potentially be one way or the other. According to the article "What is Social Construction?" by Ian Hacking, "Social construction work is critical of the status quo. Social constructionists about X tend to hold that:
# X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable
Very often they go further, and urge that:
# X is quite as bad as it is.
# We would be much better off if X were done away with, or at least radically transformed." 
In the past, there have been viewpoints that were widely regarded as fact until being called to question due to the introduction of new knowledge. Such viewpoints include the past concept of a correlation between intelligence and the nature of a human's ethnicity or race (X may not be at all as it is).<ref name="The Social Construction of What">{{cite book|last1=Hacking|first1=Ian|title=The Social Construction of What?|date=1999|publisher=President and Fellows of Harvard University|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England|isbn=978-0674004122|page=6|edition=1st}}</ref>

An example of the evolution and interaction of various social constructions within science and technology can be found in the development of both the high-wheel bicycle, or [[velocipede]], and then of the [[bicycle]].  The velocipede was widely used in the latter half of the 19th century. In the latter half of the 19th century, a social need was first recognized for a more efficient and rapid means of transportation. Consequently, the velocipede was first developed, which was able to reach higher translational velocities than the smaller non-geared bicycles of the day, by replacing the front wheel with a larger radius wheel. One notable trade-off was a certain decreased stability leading to a greater risk of falling. This trade-off resulted in many riders getting into accidents by losing balance while riding the bicycle or being thrown over the handlebars.

The first "social construction" or progress of the velocipede caused the need for a newer "social construction" to be recognized and developed into a safer bicycle design.  Consequently, the velocipede was then developed into what is now commonly known as the "[[bicycle]]" to fit within society's newer "social construction," the newer standards of higher vehicle safety. Thus the popularity of the modern geared bicycle design came as a response to the first social construction, the original need for greater speed, which had caused the high-wheel bicycle to be designed in the first place.  The popularity of the modern geared bicycle design ultimately ended the widespread use of the velocipede itself, as eventually it was found to best accomplish the social needs/social constructions of both greater speed and of greater safety.<ref name="MIT Press">{{cite book|last1=Bijker|first1=Wiebe|title=The Social Construction of Technological System|date=1993|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-262-52137-6|pages=28–45|edition=1st}}</ref>