Graham, Stephen and Thrift, N. J.. (2007) Out of order: understanding repair and maintenance. Theory, Culture & Society, Vol.24 (No.3). pp. 1-25. ISSN 0263-2764

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Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate the centrality of maintenance and repair to an understanding of modern societies and, particularly, cities. Arguing that repair and maintenance activities present a kind of 'missing link' in social theory, which is usually overlooked or forgotten, the article begins by recalling Heidegger's concept of material things as being 'ready to hand'. The main elements of practices of repair and maintenance are then elaborated on so as to help establish the argument that, by focusing on failure and breakdown in technical artefacts and systems, their vital contribution can be brought to the fore. The article then moves oil to suggest that prevailing cultural constructions, and imaginations, of the 'infrastructure' that sustains modern societies, actively work to push repair and maintenance activities beyond the attention of social science. To exemplify these arguments, the article explores in detail some of the repair and maintenance activities that sustain, first, the nexus between computer communications and electricity and, second, the system of automobility. The article concludes by excavating a politics of repair and maintenance in modern cities and societies.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Divisions:	Administration > Vice Chancellor's Office
Journal or Publication Title:	Theory, Culture & Society
Publisher:	Sage Publications Ltd.
ISSN:	0263-2764
Official Date:	May 2007
Volume:	Vol.24
Number:	No.3
Number of Pages:	26
Page Range:	pp. 1-25
Identification Number:	10.1177/0263276407075954
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/31938

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