Editing Science and technology studies (section)

=== Sociotechnical imaginaries (STIs) ===
Sociotechnical imaginaries are what certain communities, societies, and nations envision as achievable through the combination of scientific innovation and social changes. These visions can be based on what is possible to achieve for a certain society, and can also show what a certain state or nation desires.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Jasanoff |first1=Sheila |last2=Kim |first2=Sang-Hyun |date=2009 |title=Containing the Atom: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Nuclear Power in the United States and South Korea |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11024-009-9124-4 |journal=Minerva |language=en |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=120 |doi=10.1007/s11024-009-9124-4 |s2cid=145288441 |issn=0026-4695|url-access=subscription }}</ref> STIs are often bound with ideologies and ambitions of those who create and circulate them. Sociotechnical imaginaries can be created by states and policymakers, smaller groups within society, or can be a result of the interaction of both.<ref name=":0" />

The term was coined in 2009 by [[Sheila Jasanoff]] and Sang-Hyun Kim who compared and contrasted sociotechnical imaginaries of nuclear energy in the [[United States|USA]] with those of [[South Korea]] over the second half of the 20th century.<ref name=":0" /> Jasanoff and Kim analyzed the discourse of government representatives, national policies, and civil society organizations, looked at the technological and infrastructural developments, and social protests, and conducted interviews with experts. They concluded that in South Korea nuclear energy was imagined mostly as the means of national development, while in the US the dominant sociotechnical imaginary framed nuclear energy as risky and in need of containment.<ref name=":0" />

The concept has been applied to several objects of study including biomedical research,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kim|first=Sang-Hyun|date=2014-07-03|title=The Politics of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in South Korea: Contesting National Sociotechnical Imaginaries|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09505431.2013.860095|journal=Science as Culture|language=en|volume=23|issue=3|pages=293–319|doi=10.1080/09505431.2013.860095|s2cid=143997701 |issn=0950-5431|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mikami|first=Koichi|date=2015-04-03|title=State-Supported Science and Imaginary Lock-in: The Case of Regenerative Medicine in Japan|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09505431.2014.945410|journal=Science as Culture|language=en|volume=24|issue=2|pages=183–204|doi=10.1080/09505431.2014.945410|hdl=20.500.11820/2e5035a2-4194-4275-b945-67ed9802ec23 |s2cid=67762834 |issn=0950-5431|hdl-access=free}}</ref> nanotechnology development<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fonseca|first1=Paulo F.C.|last2=Pereira|first2=Tiago Santos|date=May 2014|title=The governance of nanotechnology in the Brazilian context: Entangling approaches|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0160791X13000626|journal=Technology in Society|language=en|volume=37|pages=16–27|doi=10.1016/j.techsoc.2013.07.003|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and energy systems and climate change.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Korsnes|first1=Marius|last2=Ryghaug|first2=Marianne|date=2017-08-09|title=With license to build: Chinese offshore wind firms rejecting European certificates|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09537325.2016.1236188|journal=Technology Analysis & Strategic Management|language=en|volume=29|issue=7|pages=750–761|doi=10.1080/09537325.2016.1236188|hdl=11250/2465357 |s2cid=34124845 |issn=0953-7325|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Kuchler|first1=Magdalena|last2=Bridge|first2=Gavin|date=July 2018|title=Down the black hole: Sustaining national socio-technical imaginaries of coal in Poland|journal=Energy Research & Social Science|language=en|volume=41|pages=136–147|doi=10.1016/j.erss.2018.04.014|s2cid=158509615 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2018ERSS...41..136K }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Delina|first=Laurence L.|date=January 2018|title=Whose and what futures? Navigating the contested coproduction of Thailand's energy sociotechnical imaginaries|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2214629617303754|journal=Energy Research & Social Science|language=en|volume=35|pages=48–56|doi=10.1016/j.erss.2017.10.045|bibcode=2018ERSS...35...48D |s2cid=158456970 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Christiansen|first1=Kirstine Lund|last2=Carton|first2=Wim|date=June 2021|title=What 'climate positive future'? Emerging sociotechnical imaginaries of negative emissions in Sweden|journal=Energy Research & Social Science|language=en|volume=76|pages=102086|doi=10.1016/j.erss.2021.102086|s2cid=235529916 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2021ERSS...7602086C }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Jessica M|last2=Tidwell|first2=Abraham SD|date=June 2016|title=The everyday lives of energy transitions: Contested sociotechnical imaginaries in the American West|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306312716644534|journal=Social Studies of Science|language=en|volume=46|issue=3|pages=327–350|doi=10.1177/0306312716644534|pmid=28948886 |s2cid=4377417 |issn=0306-3127|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Within energy systems, research has focused on nuclear energy,<ref name=":0" /> fossil fuels,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /> renewables<ref name=":2" /> as well as broader topics of energy transitions,<ref name=":4" /> and the development of new technologies to address climate change.<ref name=":5" />