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Journal of Design History 1999 12(1):5-24; doi:10.1093/jdh/12.1.5
© 1999 by Design History Society
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The Structuring of Early Computer Use in Life Insurance

JOANNE YATES

Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge massachusetts


  Abstract

This paper uses Anthony Guldens' structuration theory as a theoretical lens for examining the early adoption and use of computers by life insurance firms in the 1950s. The theoretical lens helps us see how pre-computer punched-card tabulating technology and patterns of technology use in insurance operations structured or shaped the choice and use of computers by insurance firms in the early computer era, even in the presence of new technology advocates arguing for new models of technology and its use. This conservative influence of existing patterns is often underestimated, especially in the case of technologies popularly seen as new and innovative. While structuration leads us to expect reinforcement of existing structures or models most of the time, it also helps us to interpret the exceptions to these patterns that opened the way to new and innovative uses of computer technology in insurance.

Key Words: business history • business management • computers • history of technology • insurance • structuration theory


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