Secondary Instrumentalization

Secondary instrumentalization is where Feenberg's critical analysis does its work. Once phenomena have been reduced to functional resources through primary instrumentalization, they must be reintegrated into social life through specific design decisions — and every one of those decisions is a political decision, whether the designer recognizes it as such or not. The lumber becomes a house, but what kind of house, for whom, in what neighborhood, at what price? The kilowatt-hours power a grid, but whose grid, governed by what pricing structure, serving which communities? The tokens are assembled into a conversational interface, but one designed by whom, optimized for what metrics, evaluated by what criteria, serving whose definition of a good response?