Design as Reification, Commodification, and Ideology: A Critical View of IS Design Science

The discourse on design science in information systems purports to offer an alternative to the currently dominant discourse on behavioural science. It suggests that information systems are concerned with the social and organisational use of technological artefacts. While research on the social side of these is well established, the understanding of their technical development is less advanced. In this paper I suggest a very different reading of the design science discourse by applying some ideas of critical theory to the discourse. From the critical perspective one can interpret the design science discourse as an attempt to create legitimacy for a particular view of information systems. Such purposive discourses are not problematic per se but they can be detrimental to the main aim of critical research, namely emancipation. A concentration on design can lead to the reification and commodification of information systems. It can contribute to and reproduce ideologies which entrench advantages for some groups to the detriment of others. The paper argues that this critical view of design can contribute to a better understanding of current debates, which is arguably desirable for the successful development of design science research in IS.