L'industriel et le domestique dans la conception d'appareils électroménagers

Abstract

Danielle Chabaud-Rychter ; Industrial and domestic aspects in the conception of domestic appliances. In the conception of technical objects for domestic use there exists a dichotomy between the “surface” - including the control panels, the accessories, the instructions - which is for the use of the consumer - and the “interior” where everything which enables the machine to function -motorisation, mechanism, electronic controls - is closed to their access. This type of conception can be considered as a “detechnicalisation” of machines destined for domestic use and we can wonder, as do the feminists working on the question of the social construction of techniques, if this is in fact a gendering of technical objects intended for use by women. Through daily observation of a research and development team for small domestic appliances, I have tried to understand exactly what they do when they introduce this dichotomy into technical objects : how do they establish the boundary between the interior and the exterior, decide what should be hidden from the consumer, to what she should have access, and how and at what point they consider the sex of the consumer.