Constructive Technology Assessment

Constructive Technology Assessment

The core idea of constructive technology assessment (CTA) is that the social problems surrounding technology can and must be addressed through the inclusion of a large diversity of actors in technological design and implementation processes, including especially social actors. Social actors are those who experience and/or articulate and define health, environmental, or other value-laden effects of evolving technologies but are not directly engaged in technological developments. They may be consumers, citizens, employees, corporations, social groups, and more. CTA activities thus depart from traditional technology assessment (TA), which limits itself to charting the effects of given technological options, and does not attempt directly to influence or broaden the design process.

Historical Background

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, TA was widely adopted in several countries in Europe and in the United States. At first mainly conducted by technical experts, it developed toward a more participatory mode, bringing public values and opinions into the assessment of new technologies (Grin and de Graaf 1996, Vig and Paschen 2000). Both conventional expert impact assessment and various forms of participatory TA focus on shaping public policies related to technical change. TA policies have often been institutionalized in separate organizations such as the U.S.

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