Why use plastic crates? Socio-technical alliances and the integration of vineyards and wineries in Argentine wine production

POLLY MACLAINE PONT; HERNÁN THOMAS

Rotterdam

Congreso; 4S Congress, Sesión 1.2.9: Marketing or Market-Things; 2008

Society for Social Studies of Science

Through a framework based on the Social Construction of Technology (Bijker 1995; Bijker, Hughes and Pinch, 1987) this paper sheds an alternative light on certain problems observed by the people involved in Argentine wine production. According to them, major changes have taken place over the past two decades due to a switch from high-quantity table wine to high-quality premium wine. Many technological improvements have been achieved in both wineries and vineyards. As premium wine makers profess that wine is made in the field, an important part of such improvement involves integrating vineyards into the production process. However, in Argentina traditionally grapes are bought from independent producers. Many winemakers and experts now complain that most of them are not willing to comply with the new standards for premium wine.   Premium wineries like to transport their grapes in plastic crates. But why is this so, and why would a producer be convinced of their use? An analysis of the different key problems, solutions and artifacts of several relevant social groups shows that the integration of vineyard and winery is a result of a growing need for enologists to control grape quality. This implies new artifacts as well as new social groups allying and gaining relevance over others. These new socio-technical alliances are embodied in artifacts like the plastic crates; social groups outside such alliances have no relationship to them.   The analysis sheds more light on the complexity of the struggles between different social groups and the technologies and methods they hold high, affording new insights into why some attempts to integrate producers have been unsuccessful. Through a comparison with certain other harvesting practices, the case also shows that the alliances found have great variation and flexibility. This explains why the authors find it necessary to replace the original SCOT term “technological frame” with “socio-technical alliances”.   This paper forms part of the PhD research by Polly Maclaine Pont and is based on extensive field observations and in-depth interviews, source- and literature study. It is embedded in the research program on the production of knowledge-intensive technologies in Latin America, directed by dr. Hernán Thomas at the Instituto de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina. The contribution of this paper to STS lays both in new insights in the empirical case and in new theoretical suggestions.