Social Technology Acceptance Research Articles

Адресная реабилитация сельских населённых пунктов юго-запада Брянской области в отдалённый период после аварии на Чернобыльской АЭС

This study investigates the most efficient methods for mitigating radiation exposure to residents of rural settlements in five south-west districts of Bryansk Oblast, Russia. A database has been created utilizing modern decision support systems (ReSCA and GISDSS). It contains characteristics of 71 rural settlements, agricultural ecosystems, and forests in the most radioactively contaminated territories of Bryansk Oblast. The authors conducted an assessment to determine the radiological and economic effectiveness of seven technologies aimed at reducing both internal and external exposure for residents who were exposed to a total dose exceeding 1 mSv/year. A list of the most effective measures for each settlement was determined, taking into consideration radiological indicators, cost, and social acceptability of technologies. The application of ferrocene to cattle and the surface improvement of pasture lands in the settlement area have been identified as the most effective measures. The efficiency of radical improvement of hayfields and pastures has significantly decreased since the early 2000s due to the high implementation costs. It has been observed that in ten areas, implementing all efficient remediation technologies will not guarantee a decrease in the overall radiation exposure for the public to a level below 1 mSv/year. Simultaneously, the reduction factor for the total radiation dose experienced by residents in the most vulnerable settlements will be increased by 1.7-2.2 times. The results obtained are crucial for prioritizing further remediation of settlements in south-west Bryansk Oblast and restoring hem to normal living conditions in relation to radiation exposure.

Biotechnology and Bio-Based Products Perceptions in the Community of Madrid: A Representative Survey Dataset

(1) Background: Bioeconomy aims to reduce dependence on non-renewable resources and foster economic growth through the development of new bio-based products and services. Achieving this goal requires social acceptance and stakeholder engagement in the development of sustainable technologies. The objective of this data article is to provide a dataset derived from a survey with a representative sample of 500 citizens over 18 years old based in the Community of Madrid. (2) Methods: We created a questionnaire on the social acceptance of technologies and bio-based products to later gather the responses using a SurveyMonkey panel for the Community of Madrid through an online CAWI survey; (3) Results: A dataset with a total of 82 columns with all responses is the result of this study. (4) Conclusions: This data article provides not only a valuable representative dataset of citizens of the Community of Madrid but also sufficient resources to replicate the same study in other regions.

The Rise and Fall of the Segway

Once posited as a revolutionary transportation technology, the Segway never took off as some expected because the social acceptance of the technology was not considered in a systematic manner. Using a framework for social acceptance of technology borrowed from the literature on renewable energy, we examine how social, economic, and environmental costs of the Segway, along with regulatory issues presented barriers to implementation. High prices, legislative and spatial issues, and a lack of appeal to consumers presented challenges to acceptance. This case study provides a timely reminder of the multifaceted and complex nature of social acceptance that will need to be applied to future innovations, such as autonomous vehicles, to better understand factors that need to be considered for them to be embraced by society.

Beyond “Information”: Integrating Consultation and Education for Water Recycling Initiatives

Recycling is starting to play a significant role in water management in drought-prone Australia. Public responses to recycling are still not well understood, and opportunities for public participation have been limited. We have experimented with a technique to explore responses qualitatively and to encourage deliberation. In small-group meetings, we provide information on recycling technologies and issues and integrate this with opportunities to discuss and question. We have trialed the approach in communities with different experiences of recycling. Our rationale comes from dissatisfaction with existing consultation processes, and with a prevalent technocratic view that people simply need technical information to correct misperceptions and overcome emotional responses; from issues in literatures on participation and social acceptance of technologies; and from a concern that apparent support for recycling is not robust. We illustrate insights from the work into processes of deliberation and possibilities for achieving a better understanding through such methods.

`Made in Japan': the cultural politics of `home electrification' in postwar Japan

This article examines the advertising images of home appliances and their technology in contemporary Japanese society. I view these images at the intersection of two sets of boundaries: Americanism/nationalism, and between genders. While home appliances had been in use in Japan since the early part of the century, it is only after the mid-1950s that appliances as commodities became linked in the popular imagination with images of the nuclear family. Since the mid- 1950s, home appliances have been designed and consumed to evoke the connections with both an American style of life symbolic of `affluence' and a Japanese national identity as they are appreciated under the name of ` Sanshu no Jingi' (three sacred treasures). This article analyses the imbrication of Americanism and nationalism within the advertisements for home appliances through the 1930s to the 1970s. Historically, the advertisements have emphasized both housewives as the subject of promoting home electrification and democracy in their homes and male engineers as another subject of advancing `Japanese technology' under the `world's eye'. This image of home appliances containing both Americanism and nationalism finally started disintegrating in the late 1970s and the new image of `personal' technology has taken the place of the image of `home' technology. In the 1980s, the image of `home' where the subjectivity of a housewife is constructed and the image of `nation' where the subjectivity of an engineer is constructed have lost their correspondence. This article indicates that a social acceptance of technology in daily life has been transformed in connection with a wider scale of cultural and political transformations.

Constracting Good Technologies : about Social Acceptance of Technology

Constracting Good Technologies : about Social Acceptance of Technology

Risk Perception and Social Acceptability of Technologies: The French Case

The authors present results of a February 1987 survey on judged frequency of mortality causes and risk perception of technologies in a representative sample of the French population. Although the French context is very different, and the impact of public controversies have been very limited on technological choices such as the nuclear energy program, strong similarities in risk perception of technologies are observed with results from U.S. surveys. Results, which could be worthwhile for other countries, suggest that risk perception is influenced by two different types of components. The first influence is the global feeling of “security” that society procures to its members. Such feeling depends on the individual's socioeconomic status, subjective state of health, and personal discomfort in daily life, and explains individual aversion to risk independently of the mortality causes or technologies involved. The second influence is the degree of perceived social legitimization of the activities involving risks. Risks of medical and transportation activities are strongly opposed to illegitimate risky behaviors (smoking, drugs, alcohol); technologies which have been an object of public debate (nuclear plants, the chemical industry, lead in gasoline) have an intermediate position reflecting the remaining uncertainties of public opinion about their risk–benefit balancing. Tentative conclusions for risk communication are proposed.

Beyond acceptable risk: On the social acceptability of technologies

The social acceptability of large-scale technologies depends upon a wide range of things, some related to safety and economics, but also some factors of cultural, social and psychological significance. However, many risk analysts assume that public opposition to technologies is mostly due to unfounded fears of their risks and, that there can exist quantitative criteria of “acceptable risk” that could allow the acceptability of technologies to be judged. This paper traces the emergence of the “acceptable risk” problem formulation and reviews critically some of the approaches that have been put forward to “solve” it. It concludes by discussing the problem of acceptable technology returned to its wider political and cultural context.