Abstract
"By venturing into the field of electric guitars, my thesis investigates over a century of cultural history and spotlights the intertwinedness of the instrument with zeitgeisty values and beliefs. Therein, it aims to crystalize the co-constitution between the artifact and the institutional arrangements as well as the shifts in meanings and structural relations that the diverse interpretations of the electric guitar both shaped and have been shaped by. Building on the philosophical considerations of Heidegger and Wittgenstein, the thesis casts novel conceptual and theoretical perspectives on the material dimension within institutions, which highlight the intertemporal dynamics within the practical and symbolic understanding of artifacts as well as the strategic leeway these dynamics convey. "