Abstract
This paper combines two theoretical perspectives: future technological expectations mobilising resources, and social representations assimilating new ideas through anchoring onto familiar frames of reference. The combination is applied to the controversial case of thermal-treatment options for municipal solid waste, especially via gasification technology. Stakeholders’ social representations set criteria for technological expectations and their demonstration requirements, whose fulfilment in turn has helped gasification to gain more favourable representations. Through a differential ‘anchoring’, gasification is represented as matching incineration’s positive features while avoiding its negative ones. Despite their limitations, current two-stage combustion gasifiers are promoted as a crucial transition towards a truly ‘advanced’ form producing a clean syngas: R&D investment reinforces expectations for advancing the technology. Such linkages between technological expectations and social representations may have broader relevance to socio-technical change, especially where public controversy arises over the wider systemic role of an innovation trajectory.
Highlights
Beyond incineration?Promoters of technoscientific pathways generally solicit support on grounds which lie beyond evidence of technical progress
The combination is applied to the controversial case of thermal-treatment options for municipal solid waste, especially via gasification technology
Such linkages between technological expectations and social representations may have broader relevance to socio-technical change, especially where public controversy arises over the wider systemic role of an innovation trajectory
Summary
Promoters of technoscientific pathways generally solicit support on grounds which lie beyond evidence of technical progress. Such grounds have been theorised as technological expectations, i.e. ‘real-time representations of future technological situations and capabilities’ (Borup et al 2006). Such expectations have been shown empirically to play a complex role in technoscientific trajectories and related policies. Alternative futures and their technological trajectories compete for support. Beyond such competition, sceptics often question whether a future trajectory will alleviate a societal problem or instead perpetuate it (see Section 2). This paper combines the theories of technological expectations and social representations
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