Back to the Roots: The Conceptual Development of TA in Germany

Prof. Dr. Armin Grunwald; Dr. Bettina-Johanna Krings M.A.; PD Dr. Andreas Lösch; PD Dr. Dirk Scheer

doi:10.5771/9783748963073

Summary

For the first time, this book brings together central articles from Technology Assessment (TA) in Germany, which were published in the period from 1980 to 2010. The articles recall important and significant issues of the conceptual discussion on TA, which are of high scientific relevance until today. Thus, the volume reflects an intellectually demanding discussion about the complex relationship between society and technology.With contributions by Gotthard Bechmann | Meinolf Dierkes | Günter Frederichs | Carl Friedrich Gethmann | Fritz Gloede | Armin Grunwald | Katrin Hähner | Leonhard Hennen | Renate Mayntz | Erwin Münch | Herbert Paschen | Thomas Petermann | Ortwin Renn

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2025
Copyright Year: 2025
ISBN-Print: 978-3-7560-3343-0
ISBN-Online: 978-3-7489-6307-3
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Gesellschaft - Technik - Umwelt
Volume: 26
Language: English
Pages: 449
Product Type: Edited Book

PrefacePages 1 - 6 Download chapter (PDF)
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1. 1. 1.1 Risk as a key concept in TA – the problem-oriented dimension
  2. 1.2 TA as advice – the consultative dimension
  3. 1.3 TA as communication and participation – the discursive dimension
  4. 1.4 TA as a theoretical approach – the action-theoretical and system-analytical dimension
2. 2. Conclusion and outlook
3. Original Publications:
4. Literature
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  1. 1. The concept of early warning
  2. 2. The need to consider the future
  3. 3. Forecast dilemma
  4. 4. Forms of prognosis
  5. 5. The importance of prognosis in TA investigations
  6. Literature
2. Authors:
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  1. Introduction
  2. 1. (1) Risk assessment with threshold value setting (targets)
    2. (2) Revealed preference approach
    3. (3) Expressed preference approach
  3. 1. (1) Welfare theories
    2. (2) Marginal cost analysis
    3. (3) Social indicator solution
  4. 1. (1) Voting procedure
    2. (2) Participation procedure
    3. (3) Muddling Through
  5. 1. (1) Cost-benefit analysis
    2. (2) Risk-benefit analysis (risk-benefit balancing)
    3. (3) Multi-attributive decision procedures
    4. (4) Planning models
  6. 1. (1) The scenario technique
    2. (2) Interdependency analysis
    3. (3) The basic needs concept
  7. 6. Summarized criticism of the techniques and methods of technology assessment
  8. Literature
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  1. 1. Methods and results of forward-looking risk calculations
  2. 2. The intuitive perception of risks
  3. 3. Imagined complaints – a guide to the psychology of risk perception
  4. 4. Risk sources more important than risk size
  5. 5. Rational versus irrational risk perception – a false starting point
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  1. 1. Preliminary remarks
  2. 2. Risk as a socio-theoretical concept
  3. 1. 3.1 Differentiation into functional subsystems
    2. 3.2 Follow-up problems
    3. 3.3 Loss of overall social representation (of the general interest)
    4. 3.4 Shifting the time horizon
    5. 3.5 Orientation toward curiosity
  4. 1. 4.1 Form and type of technical-ecological risks
    2. 4.2 Time dimension and technical-ecological risks
    3. 4.3 Technological-ecological risks and the social dimension
  5. 1. 5.1 Ethics and risk
    2. 5.2 Rationality and risk
  6. 6. Outlook: Living in a hypothetical society
  7. Literature
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  1. 1. The function of TA for policy development
  2. 2. The context of TA use: the nature of political rationality
  3. 3. Consequences for the use of TA
  4. 4. Measures to extend the influence of TA
  5. 5. National differences and their consequences for TA
  6. Literature
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  1. Preliminary remarks: TA – what else?
  2. 1. Technological consequences and “forecasts” of technological development
  3. 1. 2.1 Discrepancies between scientific and political action orientation
    2. 2.2 On the specific implementation problems of TA studies
    3. 2.3 Impact orientation in politics
  4. 3. Institutionalization patterns of TA
  5. 4. Limits of instrumental reason
  6. 5. Concluding remarks
  7. Literature
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  1. Preliminary remarks: The TA debate between continuity and innovation
  2. 1. The classic TA paradigm
  3. 2. The classic criticism topoi of the 1960s and 1970s
  4. 3. TA as a deficient entity – especially from the perspective of social science technology research
  5. 4. If there were something to be learned – what would there be to learn?
  6. 5. Concluding remarks
  7. Literature
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  1. Introduction
  2. 1. Counseling as a process (The difficult dialogue)
  3. 2. Technology development as an evolutionary process
  4. 3. The state as a disenchanted center
  5. 4. Summary and outlook
  6. Literature
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  1. 1. Concept and purpose of TA; processing TA analyses
  2. 2. Critical comments on the TA concept
  3. 1. (a) Transparency of the TA process
    2. (b) Information for the public
    3. (c) Ensuring maximum active, direct participation
    4. (d) Technology assessment as an argumentative process
    5. (e) Development of adequate procedures
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  1. 1. Participation, discourse, and technology assessment
  2. 2. Everyday life, science, politics: On the crisis of scientific-technological rationalization
  3. 3. Discourse as a medium of social integration
  4. 4. TA and discourse: TA as a formalization of public technology controversies
  5. 5. On the relationship between scientific discourses and TA discourses
  6. 6. TA discourse and institutionalized procedures for democratic decision-making
  7. 7. Benefits and limits of discourses on technology
  8. Literature
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  1. 1. Participation as a program
  2. 1. 2.1 Decision rationalization
    2. 2.2 Democratization
    3. 2.3 Social learning processes
  3. 1. 3.1 Organization of social learning processes or “rationalization” of decisions made?
    2. 3.2 Problem-induced or technology-induced TA?
    3. 3.3 Normative or empirical consensus hypothesis?
    4. 3.4 All-round “willingness to learn” or social democratization and a “round table”?
    5. 3.5 Scientific discourse or rationality of the “lifeworld”?
    6. 3.6 Resource asymmetry in TA discourses or excessive demands on interested citizens and associations?
  4. 4. Outlook
  5. Literature
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  1. Preliminary remarks
  2. 1. State action and early warning
  3. 1. 2.1 Identifying problems by observing symptoms
    2. 2.2 Problem identification through system-oriented approaches
  4. 1. 3.1 General selection services of the political system
    2. 3.2 Social and institutional boundaries
  5. 4. Opening up the political system to science and the public
  6. Literature
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  1. Preliminary remarks
  2. 1. Basic concerns of the TA concept
  3. 2. Pros and cons in the debate on TA
  4. 3. The “ideal concept”
  5. 4. Problematization of the “ideal concept”
  6. 5. The problem of implementing TA results
  7. 6. Concluding remarks
  8. Literature
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  1. 1. The social background: From enthusiasm for technology to technology ambivalence
  2. 2. Societal technology control as compensation for inadequate self-control
  3. 3. Technology genesis as an opportunity to supplement traditional TA research
  4. 4. Next steps in technology control: Regulating consequences and controlling causes
  5. Literature
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  1. 1. Technology assessment and ethics of technical action
  2. 2. Technology assessment as a rational enterprise
  3. Literature
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  1. 1. Technology management, technology assessment, and technology ethics
  2. 1. 1. (1) Ethics and the integration of society
      2. (2) Ethics, technological conflicts, and pluralism
      3. (3) Ethics and the uncertainty of predicting the consequences of technology
      4. (4) The lack of addressees of ethics
    2. 2.2 The accusation of normative deficits in systems theory
  3. 1. 3.1 Practical relevance of ethics in technology design
    2. 3.2 Observer or participant perspective?
  4. 4. Ethical limits of technology?
  5. Literature
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  1. 1. Relevance of cognitive problems in TA
  2. 2. Fields of investigation and methodological approach
  3. 3. Epistemological status of TA
  4. 4. Cognitive limits of TA
  5. 5. The theory-practice dilemma of TA and its resolution
  6. Literature
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  1. 1. Technology assessment as “problem-oriented research”
  2. 2. The changing relationship between science and society
  3. 3. Characterization and delimitation of “problem-oriented research”
  4. 1. 4.1 The inherent uncertainty
    2. 4.2 The hypotheticality of knowledge
    3. 4.3 The fusion of facts and values
  5. 5. The political function of problem-oriented research
  6. 6. Uncertainty and discourse: Structures of “problem-oriented research”
  7. Literature
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  1. Preliminary remarks: The boom and criticism of a label
  2. 1. 1.1 Problem-oriented research and the genesis of the “classic” TA concept
    2. 1.2 Ambivalences in technology policy and the dilemmas of TA
  3. 1. 2.1 Scientism
    2. 2.2 Normativism
    3. 2.3 Pragmatic mediations
  4. 3. Reflexive scientification and TA
  5. 1. 4.1 “Impact” assessment as technological determinism?
    2. 4.2 Consequences of a social science concept of technology
  6. 5. Institutional conditions
  7. Literature