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Article ID: CBB639072280

Characterizing Hacking: Mundane Engagement in US Hacker and Makerspaces* (March 2018)

Davies, Sarah R. (Author)

Science, Technology, and Human Values
Volume: 43
Issue: 2
Pages: 171-197
Publication date: March 2018
Language: English

URI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917703464

DOI: 10.1177/0162243917703464

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Democracy Leisure and leisure industry Hacking Maker movement Technological innovation Science and technology studies (STS) Interviews

The rise of a “maker movement,” located in hacker and makerspaces and involving the democratization of technologies of production and support of grassroots innovation, is receiving increasing attention from science and technology studies (STS) scholarship. This article explores how hacking is characterized by users of hacker and makerspaces and relates this to broader discussion of the maker movement as, for instance, promoting innovation, engaged in countercultural critique, or as accessible to anyone. Based on an interview study of users of twelve hacker and makerspaces across the United States, it argues that for these users, hacking is not about politics, commercial innovation, or critique. Rather, it is understood as a lifestyle one subscribes to, a meaningful leisure activity, or as providing access to a welcoming and close-knit community. Contrary to expectations of the maker movement as heralding social change, the benefits of hacking were viewed as personal rather than political, economic, or social; similarly, democratization of technology was experienced as rather incidental to most hackers’ and makers’ experiences.

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