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| Social Shaping of Technology× | Multi-Level Perspective on Transitions× | |
|---|---|---|
| Field | Science Technology Studies | Science Technology Studies |
| Family | Process / pipeline | Process / pipeline |
| Year of origin≠ | 1985 | 2002 |
| Originator≠ | Donald MacKenzie, Judy Wajcman, Robin Williams, David Edge | Frank W. Geels (building on Arie Rip and René Kemp) |
| Type≠ | Analytic tradition and method in the sociology of technology | Conceptual framework and analytic method for sociotechnical change |
| Seminal source≠ | MacKenzie, D., & Wajcman, J. (Eds.). (1999). The Social Shaping of Technology (2nd ed.). Open University Press. ISBN: 9780335199136 | 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 ↗ |
| Aliases | SST analysis, Social shaping approach, Shaping of technology framework | MLP, Multi-level perspective framework, Sociotechnical transitions analysis |
| Related | 4 | 4 |
| Summary≠ | The Social Shaping of Technology (SST) is the umbrella tradition in the sociology of technology that rejects technological determinism and argues that the content and trajectory of technical artefacts are themselves outcomes of social, economic, organisational, and political choices. Rather than treating technology as an autonomous force whose effects society must merely absorb, SST analysis opens the 'black box' of design and shows that at every stage—conception, development, standardisation, and use—things could have been, and were, decided otherwise. | 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. |
| ScholarGateDataset ↗ |
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