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Reflecting skepticism about modern cultural conceptions of science, technology, and rationality as engines of emancipation and progress, social constructionism, with its method of deconstruction, became one of the most influential currents in social science and humanities during the 1970s and 1980s, and a central theoretical orientation in Science and Technology Studies (STS)(Fuchs and Ward, 1994). Social constructionism seeks to understand the role of social contexts, processes, power dynamics, and cultural beliefs and values in shaping the development, interpretation, and impact of scientific and technological knowledge. It recognizes that scientific knowledge and technological artifacts are developed within specific social, political, and historical contexts, and that they reflect the perspectives, biases, priorities, and power structures prevailing among the individuals and communities involved in their creation. The method of deconstruction involves “opening up”(critical examination) of knowledge claims to identify social and cultural meanings and influences that make them convincing, and in that sense stable, in particular contexts.

The notion that human understanding of the world is determined not solely by natural or inherent properties but also by power-inflected human interpretation, language, and social interactions challenges the premise of a singular objective reality. The implication of these social filters is that scientific and technological knowledge is not merely discovered or revealed but also shaped (“constructed”) through human perceptions, activities, and social negotiations. STS researchers vary in the relative weight they grant to …