SOCIOTECHNICAL NETWORKS - HOW A TECHNOLOGY STUDIES APPROACH MAY HELP TO SOLVE PROBLEMS RELATED TO TECHNICAL CHANGE

This paper is motivated by a desire to deal with the problematic aspec ts of technical development. To achieve this, we need a new approach t o the analysis of socio-technical change. In this paper we develop suc h an approach, called the 'Socio-Technical Networks' (STN) approach. T he basic concepts of this approach, and its application, are illustrat ed in a case study of the development of the European Fighter Aircraft . In the final section, some suggestions are made as to how the STN ap proach can help to induce technological change in a direction that is considered desirable from a broader societal perspective, and how the approach should be further elaborated.