The Politics of Technoscience: From National Visions to Global Problems

Abstract

This contribution explores the political dimension of TechnoScienceSocieties. We assume that technoscientific knowledge production as well as the governance of technoscience is guided by historically contingent rationales. Such rationales have been conceptualized as „sociotechnical imaginaries“ by STS scholars. However, these imaginaries often remain vague and implicit and it is unclear how they are entangled with mundane STI policies. Against this background, our hypothesis is that one way for sociotechnical imaginaries to become politically explicit is the popular reference to “grand challenges.” To illustrate this, we trace the trajectories of two technoscientific discourses, both of which evolve around specific global problems: energy security and climate engineering. By means of historical discourse analysis, we follow their origin and transformations, as well as their proposed response measures through history and through various social and cultural contexts. The case studies illustrate how historical actors translate (implicit) visions encoded in sociotechnical imaginaries into (explicit) problems framed as “grand challenges.” The contribution concludes by reflecting on how an analysis of “grand challenges” can contribute to a refinement of the sociotechnical imaginaries framework.