The Limits of “Socio-Technical Imaginaries” and “Co-Production” as a Way to Know About the Future

• In Event: Future of Politics and Politics of the Future - I

Abstract

This paper identifies the limits of a generally appreciated and well-utilized logic for talking about the state, science, and the future, namely, the intellectual apparatus which includes "socio-technical imaginaries" and "co-production." The author asks: what are the limits of "socio-technical imaginaries" and "co-production" as a way to know about the future? The author finds that this model of thought is no longer capable of theoretically advancing a "positive" argument; likewise, this approach struggles to recognize that imaginaries often are brought into existence in pre-established forms. Additionally, this view distracts from the underlying enactment of practical politics and struggles to articulate or analytically engage overlapping ontological politics in practice.

Author

• Nicholas James Rowland, Pennsylvania State University