Article ID: CBB756258184

Ordering theories: Typologies and conceptual frameworks for sociotechnical change (October 2017)

unapi

What theories or concepts are most useful at explaining socio technical change? How can – or cannot – these be integrated? To provide an answer, this study presents the results from 35 semi-structured research interviews with social science experts who also shared more than two hundred articles, reports and books on the topic of the acceptance, adoption, use, or diffusion of technology. This material led to the identification of 96 theories and conceptual approaches spanning 22 identified disciplines. The article begins by explaining its research terms and methods before honing in on a combination of fourteen theories deemed most relevant and useful by the material. These are: Sociotechnical Transitions, Social Practice Theory, Discourse Theory, Domestication Theory, Large Technical Systems, Social Construction of Technology, Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Actor-Network Theory, Social Justice Theory, Sociology of Expectations, Sustainable Development, Values Beliefs Norms Theory, Lifestyle Theory, and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. It then positions these theories in terms of two distinct typologies. Theories can be placed into five general categories of being centered on agency, structure, meaning, relations or norms. They can also be classified based on their assumptions and goals rooted in functionalism, interpretivism, humanism or conflict. The article lays out tips for research methodology before concluding with insights about technology itself, analytical processes associated with technology, and the framing and communication of results. An interdisciplinary theoretical and conceptual inventory has much to offer students, analysts and scholars wanting to study technological change and society.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB756258184/

Similar Citations

Article Christopher Groves; Karen Henwood; Fiona Shirani; Catherine Butler; Karen Parkhill; Nick Pidgeon; (May 2016)
Energy Biographies: Narrative Genres, Lifecourse Transitions, and Practice Change (/isis/citation/CBB250381849/)

Article Myanna Lahsen; (September 2016)
Toward a Sustainable Future Earth: Challenges for a Research Agenda (/isis/citation/CBB813960256/)

Article Mandy de Wilde; (November 2021)
“A Heat Pump Needs a Bit of Care”: On Maintainability and Repairing Gender–Technology Relations (/isis/citation/CBB932272197/)

Article Cristina Temenos; Anna Nikolaeva; Tim Schwanen; Tim Cresswell; Frans Sengers; Matt Watson; Mimi Sheller; (March 2017)
Theorizing Mobility Transitions: An Interdisciplinary Conversation (/isis/citation/CBB402510287/)

Article Christine Perakslis; (March 2020)
Exposing Technowashing: To Mitigate Technosocial Inequalities (/isis/citation/CBB671592449/)

Article Shana Lee Hirsch; Jerrold Long; (March 2021)
Adaptive Epistemologies: Conceptualizing Adaptation to Climate Change in Environmental Science (/isis/citation/CBB087611495/)

Article Lucy Suchman; Karolina Follis; Jutta Weber; (November 2017)
Tracking and Targeting: Sociotechnologies of (In)security: (Introduction) (/isis/citation/CBB721841161/)

Article Ibo van de Poel; Behnam Taebi; (May 2022)
Value Change in Energy Systems (/isis/citation/CBB234591523/)

Article Abraham S. D. Tidwell; Jessica M. Smith; (September 2015)
Morals, Materials, and Technoscience: The Energy Security Imaginary in the United States (/isis/citation/CBB992433257/)

Article Edward B Kang; (2022)
Biometric imaginaries: Formatting voice, body, identity to data (/isis/citation/CBB345469713/)

Article Jaakko Taipale; (June 2019)
Judges’ socio-technical review of contested expertise (/isis/citation/CBB635897203/)

Article Sheila Jasanoff; Sebastian Pfotenhauer; (December 2017)
Panacea or diagnosis? Imaginaries of innovation and the ‘MIT model’ in three political cultures (/isis/citation/CBB640965055/)

Article Reijer Hendrikse; Ilke Adriaans; Tobias J. Klinge; Rodrigo Fernandez; (2022)
The Big Techification of Everything (/isis/citation/CBB019537404/)

Article Benjamin K. Sovacool; Katherine Lovell; Marie Blanche Ting; (November 2018)
Reconfiguration, Contestation, and Decline: Conceptualizing Mature Large Technical Systems (/isis/citation/CBB797225432/)

Article Sam Weiss Evans; Matthias Leese; Dagmar Rychnovská; (April 2021)
Science, technology, security: Towards critical collaboration (/isis/citation/CBB461668631/)

Article Rebecca Slayton; (January 2021)
Governing Uncertainty or Uncertain Governance? Information Security and the Challenge of Cutting Ties (/isis/citation/CBB911361449/)

Authors & Contributors
Taebi, Behnam
Doorn, Neelke
Mandy de Wilde
Fernandez, Rodrigo
Fatima K. Espinoza Vasquez
Groves, Christopher
Concepts
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Sociotechnical systems
Sustainability
Development of technology; change in technology
Imaginaries
Interdisciplinary approach to knowledge
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
Places
United States
Columbia River
Puerto Rico
Wales
Institutions
International Council for Science
Future Earth. Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production Knowledge-Action Network
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment