ABSTRACT
Environmental movements have a diverse set of goals and can have a wide range of outcomes, among which are changes in industry, technology, and science. These changes can involve the sunsetting of industrial sites, technologies, practices, or even entire industries; the redesign of infrastructures, products, and technological systems; and changes in scientific research agendas, methods, and problem areas in response to movement goals. Although state-oriented mobilization with resulting changes in policy or program implementation is important, changes may also take place directly when private-sector firms, consumers, system designers, and scientists alter their preferences, plans, and practices. This chapter argues that attention to the material and epistemic dimensions of environmental movements is central to understanding the problem of outcomes, and it adopts a “sociotechnical perspective” on these dimensions. The perspective involves new analytical categories and research questions, such as the comparative analysis of industrial transition movements, the politics of design, and undone science.
