Compare methods

	Sociology of Expectations	Actor-Network Theory Analysis
Field	Science Technology Studies	Science Technology Studies
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	2006	1984
Originator	Nik Brown, Mads Borup, Harro van Lente, Kornelia Konrad	Bruno Latour, Michel Callon, John Law
Type	Interpretive method for analysing future-oriented expectations	Material-semiotic theory and analytic method
Seminal source	Borup, M., Brown, N., Konrad, K., & Van Lente, H. (2006). The sociology of expectations in science and technology. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 18(3-4), 285-298.	Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199256051
Aliases	Expectations analysis, Sociology of promises, Technological hype analysis	ANT analysis, Sociology of translation, Actant-network mapping
Related	4	4
Summary	The sociology of expectations studies how promises, visions, hype, and expectations about the future actively shape the development of science and technology. Set out by Nik Brown, Mads Borup, Harro van Lente, and Kornelia Konrad, it treats expectations not as mere predictions to be judged true or false but as performative resources that mobilise funding, coordinate actors, and guide work—analysing how futures are constructed in the present and with what real effects.	Actor-Network Theory analysis treats society and technology as a single woven fabric, mapping how heterogeneous human and non-human actors—engineers, scallops, documents, machines, regulators—are linked into networks through a process of translation. Rather than explaining technical outcomes by appeal to pre-given social categories, ANT follows the actors themselves and describes how durable arrangements are assembled, stabilised, and sometimes undone.