week 4

The term social constructivism relates to the ideal of how social constructs develop in a social world. They can form by a certain group of people who use them enough until they eventually become accepted and social norms. An instance of this was with the famous Bjiker created a simple enough 2 wheeled, metal framed man powered vehicle currently known as the bicycle. The problem with the bicycle was that it was created almost exclusively for men, and not for women. The early bicycle proved to be impractical for women as the wheels would expose women who commonly wore dresses back then, and the seats were just positioned so high up that this was almost certain to happen. It was also seen as a very dangerous device, much to the pleasure of men and dismay of women.. Another major social construct was the development of the car. The car, much like the bicycle, was also predominately designed for a certain group of people and not everyone. However the car, like Rome, was not built in a day. It took many years, man power, and prototypes to piece it together. The end result was a simple yet complicated buggy sans the horses. This vehicle certainly was not built for poor people, as it was the design of the wealthy, engineers, prominent scientists, and high working government officials. The car has proven to be a great example of social constructivism. The term “reverse salient” refers to a certain group in the front is falling behind in the advance. This term can currently be applied to the car situation of today, as American companies are falling behind that of the Asian motor vehicle companies. Not only are American companies falling behind economically and production wise, they’re also being beat in many areas such as technological advancements and the ever important hybrid capabilities. Recently however, American car companies are learning from the Asian car companies and starting to catch up as far as the technological advancements are concerned. Until recently, the American car companies were simply unable to compete with the cheap production and advanced technology of their Asian counterparts. Now however, they have learned from the Asian car companies technology and production techniques and are applying it themselves, which is leading to much greater success than they’ve ever had. Will American car companies ever catch up to that of the Asian car companies? Only time will answer that.

week 3

Lately we’ve been discussing how design (artifacts) are important to society and the governance they have. In one of the readings, “Do Artifacts Have Politics,” it states that artifacts are influential in two different ways. One way that artifacts can be political and influential is the way they were designed, structured, and how and where they were built, and whether they were designed based on issues in the community. The other way artifacts can be political is whether or not they were built in order to grant certain people political power and authority. The latter of the two has sadly happened, and will continue to happen, time and time again. One particular example we discussed extensively in class was the bridge situation in the 1950s. In the 1950s, the wealthy people wanted a bridge built in order to gain access into their city. However this bridge was to have specific guidelines, including that it would not be tall enough to fit a bus underneath it. Now why wouldn’t they want buses to be able to access the bridge? To keep the poor people out! That’s why! Just like today, back then the poorer people didn’t own cars. Instead they rode public transportation, the bus. The wealthy people realized this and did not want them accessing their rich city. It sickens me that something this blatantly racist and snobbish could occur.
A current design (artifact) that has a huge impact on Phoenix and Arizona in general is the newly designed light rail. In tough economic times, it provides thousands or people transportation to work and school, traveling all the way from Mesa through Phoenix. Besides providing cheaper transportation, the light rail was also created in an effort to go Green, or environmentally friendly. With Arizona being so polluted, Phoenix the most, a public transportation system definitely needed to be created in order to cut back on car pollutants and encourage people to take alternative methods of transportation. The lightrail, while extremely expensive, has certainly proven that it’s up to the task. With its sleek design and comfortable, quick ride it is quickly becoming a favorite for people who are conscientious of the environment and going green, or maybe they’re just conscientious about their wallets. Either way it’s proven a success so far in its early stages. However that does not mean there aren’t any concerns regarding the light rail. Some people argue that it does not cover as large of an area as needed. I must concur with this argument as while it does cover some main places, Mesa, ASU, and Central Phoenix, it also pretty much just runs in a straight line and skips out on many other vital places. Some people just simply don’t want to take it because they’d have to jump on another bus anyways if they were to rely on it. All in all however, I do believe the light rail is a great thing for Arizona and hope they continue to expand it.

Blog 2

Akash Kapur’s writing on the poor industrialized area known as Kerala offered an interesting insight into a socially advancing area,, despite being economically challenged. While most people’s perceptions of poor, industrialized areas are that of poor people who are disease ridden and have no education and no future, the city of Kerala continues to defy those odds. Despite living off little more than a dollar a day, their life expectancies are nearly the same as the people in the United States, who are much more economically advanced and have access to some of the finest healthcare in the world. In fact, their life expectancy is even better than that of the rest of their Indian counterparts. Amazingly, they were also taught how to read and become literate through the help of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. What the city of Kerala showed is that you do not have to have an economically strong country in order to promote social progress. While having the financial means does greatly help promote social progress, it can still be done through a variety of other ways. People have lived and sometimes even thrived through hundreds of years despite being technologically advanced. Just 20 years ago the internet was more of a dream concept instead of a reality and people got along just fine. While now if the internet were to be taken away for even a few hours, people would swear that the sky is falling and that they couldn’t survive without it. While technological advances are great and most are good for the advancement of people, it is easy to see that many people are simply too reliant on technology. It’s as if they forgot or rather, have never known, how to survive off of the basics. Instead they rely entirely too much on technology. What Kerala shows is that even though they didn’t have money or much technology, they have survived and are beating the odds. They are not only outliving many developed countries, they are also becoming educated. In many underdeveloped and industrialized countries, education is often just put aside. It is seen as more of a pipe dream than a reality. Books are instead replaced with shovels and other simple labor. However Kerala is showing just how being educated can lead to a whole new mindset and promote overall social progress. Kapur’s writing on Kerala, while dated, should be looked at by all as a modern example of not needing technology in order to thrive and become educated.