A concept that helps exploring effects of more or less coercive physical influences, is delegation as elaborated by Latour (1992). Many everyday products enforce a certain behavior on humans. Latour wittily discusses a speed bumps making car drivers slow down, door grooms ensuring that doors are being closed, and hotel keys with heavy key fob disciplining hotel guests to leave the keys at the hotel desk. Technologies carry scripts with them, guiding users it like a movie script helps actors. When products guide humans, Latour thinks this implies the delegation of morality from people to products.
coercion
22 February 2019 by