Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas
Strategic documents that reflect future S&T priorities are often formulated without sufficiently taking into account the social context of S&T developments. The paper discusses the capabilities of social sciences for a deeper contextual analysis when setting priorities and, consequently, fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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National Research University Higher School of Economics
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Foresight and STI Governance |
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| Online Access: | https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/article/view/19327 |
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| author | Mariya Dobryakova Zoya Kotel'nikova |
| author_facet | Mariya Dobryakova Zoya Kotel'nikova |
| author_sort | Mariya Dobryakova |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Strategic documents that reflect future S&T priorities are often formulated without sufficiently taking into account the social context of S&T developments. The paper discusses the capabilities of social sciences for a deeper contextual analysis when setting priorities and, consequently, for helping to make the diffusion of advanced technologies more efficient. The methodological basis of the analysis is the concept of the social construction of technology (SCOT). The list of critical technologies of the Russian Federation serves as an illustrative example of a strategic document defining S&T priorities. The authors point out developments with the highest potential for social embeddedness, which could be fully used only if coupled with an understanding of related social matters. These developments are divided into four groups (clusters): biomedicine and health, energy, environment, and transport. We identify for each cluster the social groups that would be affected by the relevant technologies, the potential for conflicts of interest and for formats of interaction. The paper proposes prospective areas of sociological research, allowing a deeper understanding of the real context in which new technologies might be developed and implemented, and thus may help optimize efforts for the diffusion of these technologies.
We conclude that many prospective technologies, which by nature belong to the 'physical' world, would be more efficient if their implementation, and possibly also development, were accompanied (and in some cases preceded) by the outputs of relevant social science and humanities studies. In this sense, we propose the use of the 'social embeddedness of technology' concept. We argue that this is an important factor affecting the success of technology implementation, and sometimes, technology configuration.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-620cbb207ddf4b01bb5a8e9ee3ffdb4e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2500-2597 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | National Research University Higher School of Economics |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Foresight and STI Governance |
| spelling | doaj-art-620cbb207ddf4b01bb5a8e9ee3ffdb4e2025-08-20T02:35:47ZengNational Research University Higher School of EconomicsForesight and STI Governance2500-25972015-03-019110.17323/1995-459X.2015.1.6.19Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research AreasMariya Dobryakova0Zoya Kotel'nikova1HSE UniversityHSE University Strategic documents that reflect future S&T priorities are often formulated without sufficiently taking into account the social context of S&T developments. The paper discusses the capabilities of social sciences for a deeper contextual analysis when setting priorities and, consequently, for helping to make the diffusion of advanced technologies more efficient. The methodological basis of the analysis is the concept of the social construction of technology (SCOT). The list of critical technologies of the Russian Federation serves as an illustrative example of a strategic document defining S&T priorities. The authors point out developments with the highest potential for social embeddedness, which could be fully used only if coupled with an understanding of related social matters. These developments are divided into four groups (clusters): biomedicine and health, energy, environment, and transport. We identify for each cluster the social groups that would be affected by the relevant technologies, the potential for conflicts of interest and for formats of interaction. The paper proposes prospective areas of sociological research, allowing a deeper understanding of the real context in which new technologies might be developed and implemented, and thus may help optimize efforts for the diffusion of these technologies. We conclude that many prospective technologies, which by nature belong to the 'physical' world, would be more efficient if their implementation, and possibly also development, were accompanied (and in some cases preceded) by the outputs of relevant social science and humanities studies. In this sense, we propose the use of the 'social embeddedness of technology' concept. We argue that this is an important factor affecting the success of technology implementation, and sometimes, technology configuration. https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/article/view/19327social construction of technology (SCOT)diffusion of innovationsocial embeddedness; social scienceshumanitiesprospective research areas |
| spellingShingle | Mariya Dobryakova Zoya Kotel'nikova Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas Foresight and STI Governance social construction of technology (SCOT) diffusion of innovation social embeddedness; social sciences humanities prospective research areas |
| title | Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas |
| title_full | Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas |
| title_fullStr | Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas |
| title_short | Social Embeddedness of Technology: Prospective Research Areas |
| title_sort | social embeddedness of technology prospective research areas |
| topic | social construction of technology (SCOT) diffusion of innovation social embeddedness; social sciences humanities prospective research areas |
| url | https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/article/view/19327 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariyadobryakova socialembeddednessoftechnologyprospectiveresearchareas AT zoyakotelnikova socialembeddednessoftechnologyprospectiveresearchareas |