Technological Changes at Field: from the Emergence of a New Socio-Technical Code to the Conception of Deviant Processes of Rural Development

Abstract

Driven by concerns about the negative consequences of certain technological changes in the field and aware of the complexity of it in this scenario, social actors articulate themselves in the search for overcoming the adversities resulted from modernization. In this context, change and innovation are occurring constantly. Considering that this diversity of deviant trajectories needs to be studied, this article analyzes the social construction process of a new socio-technical code that is triggering rural development dynamics appropriate to the socioeconomic, environmental and cultural specificities of the north coast of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Grounded in data analyzes built through open and semi-structured interviews and documentary research, the analysis emphasizes the articulation between family farmers, social mediators and researchers in the consolidation of this innovative socio-technical code, that gives a new meaning to ancient customs and traditions of agricultural processes. Guided by Theory of Social Construction Technology and by Actor Oriented Perspective, it reveals that innovation, although present limitations, results in creative strategies of knowledge production in the operationalization of new connections between the development of technologies and the social context to which the actors are intertwined.