Contested Visions for Transformation—The Visions of the Green New Deal and the Politics of Technology Assessment, Responsible Research and Innovation, and Sustainability Research

Christoph Schneider,Niko Wilke,Andreas Lösch

doi:10.3390/su14031505

Christoph Schneider, Niko Wilke + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031505

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jan 27, 2022
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Abstract

Societal transformations are contested. The goals and visions of transformations, as well as the means and strategies to achieve them, are born in political conflict and power constellations. Which transformations are seen as desirable and possible by democratic majorities changes throughout history. This is the political reality where research for transformations finds itself. Technology assessment (TA), responsible research and innovation (RRI), and sustainability research (SR) are a part of such contestations. They engage in envisioning, debating, analyzing, and evaluating different visions of and options for the future. In this article we turn to visions of the future as a key aspect of societal contestation and the shaping of interfaces between research for transformations and society. Based on the approach of vision assessment developed in TA, we situate TA, RRI, and SR within visions of research and social order. We argue that in these politicized times it is increasingly necessary to understand how research relates to larger visions of society and the contested nature of transformations. We turn to one of the major contemporary visions for societal transformation: The Green New Deal (GND). This vision imagines a large-scale transformation of society and the economy towards sustainability and justice and is currently debated in major political institutions and social movements. It presents an ongoing case of the “making of the future”, which is highly relevant for TA, RRI, and SR. We show how this vision is creating new knowledge and social arrangements and how it is opening up new possibilities for transformational research. The article discusses the implications that a possible further impact of GND visions in politics may have for TA, RRI, and SR, and, relatedly, how expertise and insights from TA, RRI, and SR could significantly add to the GND debate.

Highlights

Introduction iationsSocietal transformations are contested, and transformative research participates in such contestations
We show that Green New Deal (GND) visions are strongly affecting the political landscape in Western societies through sketching a specific political-economic strategy towards a more sustainable economy and society
This chapter starts with a brief history of GND visions and draws on the analytical dimensions of vision assessment to discuss how these visions create an interface between present and future, how they activate a normative force, how they enable communication, and, how they coordinate different actors

Summary

Introduction

Introduction iationsSocietal transformations are contested, and transformative research participates in such contestations. The dominant visions of politics and the socio-economic order are very much about what is seen as “desirable” and possible by the majority of the population. Such landscapes affect science, since they provide the main frames of interpretation of the world in public discourse [1,2]. Writing from the perspective of TA, we argue that these transformative research have enabling conditions, which include the larger visions of societal change.

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