Sites of qualification: the motorcycle rider airbag and the production of safety
Sites of qualification: the motorcycle rider airbag and the production of safety
The paper mobilises the distinctive notion of ‘sites of qualification’ as a means of providing an expansive understanding of how innovative products are designed, produced and brought to consumer markets. We focus on the development of a new safety product for motorcyclists, the rider airbag, in which inflatable body protection is either incorporated into, or worn underneath, textile jackets and leather suits. The paper follows the airbag’s trajectory across a range of different sites, including lead firms and their territorial settings; MotoGP racetracks, mobile laboratories and professional riders; courts of law; and showroom and archive locations. The paper’s sites of qualification approach expands understandings of innovation by constructing a dialogue between two sets of literatures: actor-network approaches to the qualification of products; and narratives which understand economic innovation as emerging through clusters of agents and firms within industrial districts. The conclusion emphasises that sites of qualification are integral to the ways in which technical products such as the rider airbag are made social.
sites of qualification, innovation, safety, rider airbag, product qualification, motorcyclist
26-40
Reimer, Suzanne
d6594766-1967-4439-a8bb-14e52a6e2f5f
Pinch, Philip
a92542f0-7b24-4097-9e26-03e38fe41c8c
2 January 2021
Reimer, Suzanne
d6594766-1967-4439-a8bb-14e52a6e2f5f
Pinch, Philip
a92542f0-7b24-4097-9e26-03e38fe41c8c
Reimer, Suzanne and Pinch, Philip
(2021)
Sites of qualification: the motorcycle rider airbag and the production of safety.
Journal of Cultural Economy, 14 (1), .
(doi:10.1080/17530350.2020.1788624).
Abstract
The paper mobilises the distinctive notion of ‘sites of qualification’ as a means of providing an expansive understanding of how innovative products are designed, produced and brought to consumer markets. We focus on the development of a new safety product for motorcyclists, the rider airbag, in which inflatable body protection is either incorporated into, or worn underneath, textile jackets and leather suits. The paper follows the airbag’s trajectory across a range of different sites, including lead firms and their territorial settings; MotoGP racetracks, mobile laboratories and professional riders; courts of law; and showroom and archive locations. The paper’s sites of qualification approach expands understandings of innovation by constructing a dialogue between two sets of literatures: actor-network approaches to the qualification of products; and narratives which understand economic innovation as emerging through clusters of agents and firms within industrial districts. The conclusion emphasises that sites of qualification are integral to the ways in which technical products such as the rider airbag are made social.
Text
Sites of qualification JCE author accepted version
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 22 June 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 July 2020
Published date: 2 January 2021
Keywords:
sites of qualification, innovation, safety, rider airbag, product qualification, motorcyclist
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 442060
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/442060
ISSN: 1753-0350
PURE UUID: 53ced63d-9bec-4a25-9d11-aa0239e1dbc9
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Jul 2020 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:41
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Philip Pinch
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
