Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Affordance in everyday language can be defined as “the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used” (Merriam Webster n.d.). The handle of a mug is for instance an affordance that allows you to hold it, and the hollowed-out shape allows you to pour liquid into it and drink from it without spilling. #Affordances shape the way we use an object and consequently our behaviour, but it is not a given that the actual use will follow the intended use. Usage can also be disruptive. A cup, for example, can be used as a weapon if it is thrown, with the handle acting as a throwing mechanism.
Hutchby (2001) was one of the first theorists to apply the concept of affordances to technology as a way to understand how technology shapes social interaction. Instead of emphasising only human agency and the ability of humans to shape technology or technology and its ability to shape human behaviour, the concept of affordances allows for a focus on the interaction between object and actor and on both the constraining and enabling aspects of the technologies. According to Hutchby (2001), affordances frame, but do not determine, the possibilities for agentic action in relation to an object. The affordances do not force humans to act in a specific way with, around, or via the object, but they do set limits on what is possible to do. There is a variety of ways in which one can respond to the range of affordances for action and interaction that the #technology presents.
Hutchby, I. (2001). Technologies, texts and affordances. Sociology, 35(2), pp. 441-456. doi.org/10.1177/S0038038501000219
Merriam-Webster (n.d.). Affordance. Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved November 12, 2024, from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affordance.
Affordance in everyday language can be defined as “the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used” (Merriam Webster n.d.). The handle of a mug is for instance an affordance that allows you to hold it, and the hollowed-out shape allows you to pour liquid into it and drink from it without spilling. #Affordances shape the way we use an object and consequently our behaviour, but it is not a given that the actual use will follow the intended use. Usage can also be disruptive. A cup, for example, can be used as a weapon if it is thrown, with the handle acting as a throwing mechanism.
Hutchby (2001) was one of the first theorists to apply the concept of affordances to technology as a way to understand how technology shapes social interaction. Instead of emphasising only human agency and the ability of humans to shape technology or technology and its ability to shape human behaviour, the concept of affordances allows for a focus on the interaction between object and actor and on both the constraining and enabling aspects of the technologies. According to Hutchby (2001), affordances frame, but do not determine, the possibilities for agentic action in relation to an object. The affordances do not force humans to act in a specific way with, around, or via the object, but they do set limits on what is possible to do. There is a variety of ways in which one can respond to the range of affordances for action and interaction that the #technology presents.
Hutchby, I. (2001). Technologies, texts and affordances. Sociology, 35(2), pp. 441-456. doi.org/10.1177/S0038038501000219
Merriam-Webster (n.d.). Affordance. Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved November 12, 2024, from merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affordance.
