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Out of Order: Understanding Repair and Maintenance

Graham, S.; Thrift, N.

Authors

S. Graham

N. Thrift



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 on 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.

Citation

Graham, S., & Thrift, N. (2007). Out of Order: Understanding Repair and Maintenance. Theory, Culture and Society, 24(3), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276407075954

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date May 1, 2007
Deposit Date Oct 15, 2008
Journal Theory, Culture and Society
Print ISSN 0263-2764
Electronic ISSN 1460-3616
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 24
Issue 3
Pages 1-25
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276407075954
Keywords Automobility, Cities, Electricity, Repair maintenance, Social theory.