Compare methods

	Sociotechnical Systems Analysis	Valuation Studies Method
Field	Science Technology Studies	Science Technology Studies
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1983	2013
Originator	Thomas P. Hughes	Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Fabian Muniesa, Michèle Lamont
Type	Historical-analytic method for large technological systems	Practice-oriented method for studying valuation
Seminal source	Hughes, T. P. (1983). Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN: 9780801828737	Helgesson, C.-F., & Muniesa, F. (2013). For what it's worth: an introduction to valuation studies. Valuation Studies, 1(1), 1-10.
Aliases	Large technical systems analysis, Hughesian systems approach, Technological systems analysis	Sociology of valuation, Valography, Study of evaluation practices
Related	4	4
Summary	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.	The valuation studies method treats valuation—the production, measurement, ordering, and contestation of worth—as a social practice to be studied empirically rather than a hidden mental act or a settled economic fact. Consolidated by Claes-Fredrik Helgesson and Fabian Muniesa and complemented by Michèle Lamont's comparative sociology of valuation and evaluation, it follows how rankings, metrics, prices, and evaluation procedures actually do their work, and asks how worth comes to be, by whom, with which devices, and to what effect.