“This constraining effect of discourse can help stabilize a socio-technical regime, by undermining the credibility of those who criticize the regime or propose alternatives to it. This is supported by Andy Stirling’s account of technological appraisal, in which powerful actors carefully select experts in an attempt to ‘close down’ discussions of technology”
(Roberts, 2015: 35)
Roberts, C. 2015. The evolution of discursive story-lines during socio-technical transitions: An analytical model applied to British and American road and rail transport during the twentieth century. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, Faculty of Humanities.
Stirling, A., 2008. ‘Opening Up’ and ‘Closing Down’: Power, Participation, and Pluralism in the Social Appraisal of Technology Science, Technology and Human Values 33 (2), 262-294.
marchudson.net 