Controversies as governing processes in technology assessment

The first part of this article shows that in actual practice technology assessment (TA) has clearly moved from its basic conception as a set of objective methodologies developed and used by experts, to a standpoint which increasingly recognizes the need to make room for public participation. This has led to a view of controversies as informal processes of TA. The second part of the article argues for a further step, namely to conceive of TA as a social proces taking place in a space largely defined by controversies. Correlatively, it provides some initial elements for an analytical understanding of controvtersies as the ‘limiting factor’ of TA.