Ordering theories: Typologies and conceptual frameworks for sociotechnical change

By Benjamin Sovacool, D. Hess. Social Studies of Science, 2017

425 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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.

Subfields: Communication, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1cba161e98bbf11085e87bcf921e2c3f32cac755

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Citations in the corpus

Reducing energy demand through low carbon innovation: A sociotechnical transitions perspective and thirteen research debates (2018, background): “One review identified no less than 96 distinct frameworks or theories focusing across the domains of technological change, sociotechnical transformation, sustainability transitions, or the diffusion, acceptance, and use of new technologies [26].”
Policy mixes for incumbency: Exploring the destructive recreation of renewable energy, shale gas ‘fracking,’ and nuclear power in the United Kingdom (2017, positive): “…and link all these notional horizontal and vertical divisions in ‘rhizomic’ ways (Deleuze & Guattari 1987; Deleuze & Guattari 1987; Stirling 2016; Sovacool and Hess 2017), that may render ostensibly neatly-separable scales, levels and sectors little more than stories (Ernstson 2008; Steinberg…”
The misallocation of climate research funding (2020, background): “Some is caught up in obscure theoretical debates—one assessment identified no less than 96 theories deemed relevant to the fairly narrow topic of the social acceptance of new technologies [35].”
Transition heuristic frameworks in research on agro-food sustainability transitions (2020, background): “2012; Sovacool and Hess 2017; STRN 2017).”
A bibliometric review of the innovation adoption literature (2018, background): “(2014) [265] [40] Sovacool and Hess (2017) [266] [07] Cresswell and Sheikh (2013) [267] [24] Khong et al.”