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This article aims to integrate these literatures in order to critically review differences and similarities in the techno-centric conceptions of agency and social change by political adversaries that are rooted in their socio-technical practices. We repurpose the critique of technological determinism to develop a multi-layered conception of agency that contains three interrelated dimensions: (1) \u201caccess\u201d versus \u201cskill\u201d and the normative concept of inclusion; (2) fixed \u201csystem\u201d versus \u201copen-ended network\u201d and savoir vivre; and (3) \u201cinstitution\u201d versus \u201cextra-institutional network\u201d and political efficacy. Building on our critique, we end by exploring the political possibilities at the intersections of conventional institutions or communities and emerging, extra-institutional networked formations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444815604419","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,9,9]],"date-time":"2015-09-09T22:18:39Z","timestamp":1441837119000},"page":"255-271","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["The tools of social change: A critique of techno-centric development and activism"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Jan","family":"Servaes","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong"}]},{"given":"Rolien","family":"Hoyng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lingnan University, Hong Kong"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,7,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315750491"},{"key":"bibr2-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822399056"},{"key":"bibr3-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Political Machines: Governing a Technological Society","author":"Barry A","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr4-1461444815604419","first-page":"243","volume-title":"Technological Determinism and Social Change","author":"Ba\u00fa V","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr5-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Towards a Sustainable Information Society: Deconstructing WSIS","author":"Bauwens M","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr6-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own","author":"Bollier D","year":"2008"},{"key":"bibr7-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons","author":"Bollier D","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr8-1461444815604419","first-page":"219","volume-title":"The Power of Global Community Media","author":"Carpentier N","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr9-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446269114"},{"key":"bibr10-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Reformatting Politics: Information Technology and Global Civil Society","author":"Dean J","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr11-1461444815604419","volume-title":"A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia","author":"Deleuze G","year":"1987"},{"key":"bibr12-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Cyber-Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High-Technology Capitalism","author":"Dyer-Witheford N","year":"1999"},{"key":"bibr13-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822389439"},{"key":"bibr14-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444811412159"},{"key":"bibr15-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture","author":"Fuller M","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr16-1461444815604419","volume-title":"Cyberculture and the Subaltern: Weavings of the Virtual and Real","author":"Gajjala R","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr17-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/5658.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr18-1461444815604419","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2885.2011.01396.x"},{"key":"bibr19-1461444815604419","unstructured":"Garcia D, Lovink G (1997) The ABC of tactical media. 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