Research on Engineers’ Work at a Turning Point?

Abstract

According to their disciplinary perspective and their main object, engineering studies deal with engineering as a profession, describe the training, socialization, engineers’ activities, and question the specific ethical dimensions. On the French side, academic contributions to engineering studies are distributed between several fields of philosophy, history, and sociology – sociology of professions, sociology of science and technology, sociology of education. This chapter puts these different contributions into perspective to propose possible directions for further study and investigation of engineers’ work. The first part focuses on engineers as an occupational group associated with the social category of “cadres”. The second part examines engineering activities from the perspective of their heterogeneity and uncertainty. These dimensions hold an important place in the sociology of innovation and more recent research on maintenance and repair. If innovation is a specialty of sociology, maintenance and repair are not in itself. We conclude with further study and research perspectives aiming to consider engineers as crucial participants in maintaining infrastructures, communities, and society.