Large-scale system

Large-scale systems are socio-technical systems in the infrastructure area. They are characterized by size, technicality , systematicity and their hybrid character between technical and social system.

They were first described by the engineering historian Thomas Parke Hughes . He examined the differences in the electricity networks in Germany and England and referred to these networks as large-scale or infrastructure systems. Elements of these systems are technical artifacts , organizations, capital , knowledge , law and resources .

A distinction must be made here, however:
Large-scale technical systems can be function-related systems, such as the medical system, whereas infrastructure systems run right through the functional subsystems and fulfill a supply function. In later literature, large-scale technical projects ( Manhattan Project ) are also referred to as large-scale systems, which, however, loosens the definition.

In the literature, the “technology push” is seen as a driving force, but this is controversial.

Large-scale technical systems, through their efficiency-increasing effect and their functional interdependence and networking, have an influence on the formation of social order (governance) and relations of domination and power.

literature

• Renate Mayntz , Thomas P. Hughes (Eds.): The Development of Large Technical Systems. Campus-Verlag et al., Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-593-34032-1 ( Publications of the Max Planck Institute for Social Research 2).
• Thomas P. Hughes : The Evolution of Large Technological Systems. In: Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, Trevor Pinch (Eds.): The Social Construction of Technological Systems. New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge MA et al. 1989, ISBN 0-262-52137-7 , pp. 51-82.