Compare methods
Review your selected methods side by side; rows that differ are highlighted.
| Multi-Level Perspective on Transitions× | Sociotechnical Systems Analysis× | |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Science Technology Studies | Science Technology Studies |
| Family | Process / pipeline | Process / pipeline |
| Year of origin≠ | 2002 | 1983 |
| Originator≠ | Frank W. Geels (building on Arie Rip and René Kemp) | Thomas P. Hughes |
| Type≠ | Conceptual framework and analytic method for sociotechnical change | Historical-analytic method for large technological systems |
| Seminal source≠ | Geels, F. W. (2002). Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Research Policy, 31(8-9), 1257-1274. DOI ↗ | Hughes, T. P. (1983). Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN: 9780801828737 |
| Aliases | MLP, Multi-level perspective framework, Sociotechnical transitions analysis | Large technical systems analysis, Hughesian systems approach, Technological systems analysis |
| Related | 4 | 4 |
| Summary≠ | The Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) is a middle-range framework for analysing how large sociotechnical systems—energy, mobility, food, water—shift from one dominant configuration to another. It locates change in the interplay of three analytic levels: protected niches where radical novelties incubate, the incumbent sociotechnical regime that structures ordinary practice, and a slow-moving exogenous landscape. Transitions occur when landscape pressures destabilise the regime and open windows of opportunity for maturing niche innovations to break through. | Sociotechnical systems analysis, developed by the historian of technology Thomas P. Hughes, studies large technological systems—electric power, telephony, transport—as a 'seamless web' in which physical artefacts, organisations, scientific knowledge, laws, and people are woven together. Drawing on his study of electrification in Networks of Power and his model of system evolution, the method locates the system's reverse salients, follows the work of system builders, and traces how a system acquires momentum and passes through characteristic phases of growth. |
| ScholarGateDataset ↗ |
|
|