ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with that conundrum, accepts the entangled state of the material-discursive, and then works backwards, through the metaphor of refraction, to make visible the actors and structures, their values and norms that are discursively shaping our world and ourselves within it. It explores how examining the discursive can articulate structural forces affecting technology. The book shows how importing a global pharmaceutical to a small country with structural institutions for state subsidies of pharmaceuticals produced a very different Viagra than the global, blockbuster drug advertised by sports stars in the US. It examines the human papilloma virus vaccination discourses in Sweden, Colombia and Austria, relying on empirical research conducted in a comparative study. The book presents examples of trying to manipulate either the discursive or the material in material-discursive entanglements.
