The role of organized, imaginative labor in grand projects such as nationalism, modernization, or globalization has long been a central concern for historians, anthropologists, and social theorists. The place of science and technology within these projects-their dynamic interplay with questions of social order and political authority-however, remains a relative blind spot. This is the core assertion behind Dreamscapes of Modernity. The volume is the most notable recent effort to bridge a persistent gap between STS-with its attention to networks, materiality, and technoscientific controversies-and political and cultural theory's emphasis on normativity, asymmetry, and power. To do so, its authors join a recent push among STS scholars to place politics front and center in the study of science and technology. For Sheila Jasanoff and the volume's contributors, "sociotechnical imaginaries" represent the conceptual vehicle for this transition. Drawing on earlier work with Sang-Hyun Kim, Jasanoff defines sociotechnical imaginaries as "collectively held, institutionally stabilized, and publicly performed visions of desirable futures, animated by shared understandings of forms of social life and social order attainable through, and supportive of, advances in science and technology" (p. 4). For historians of technology specifically, the concept helps account for moments of rupture within and divergence between sociotechnical assemblages by stressing the importance of imaginative labor and shared cultural resources alongside material infrastructures and technoscientific practices.
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