Pollution Through Traffic and Transport: the Praxis of Cultural Pluralism in Parliamentary Technology Assessment

by Robert Hoppe, Twente University, andJohn Grin, University of AmsterdamThis paper discusses how “the” transporta-tion problem was structured in traffic andtransportation studies by the parliamentarytechnology assessment (PTA) agencies ofGermany, Denmark and the European Un-ion. The focus is on cultural biases in TAmethods with regard to the way in whichthe social problem was defined and trans-lated into research questions (problemstructuration), the conclusions drawn fromthe TA studies, and the recommendationspresented. The analysis shows that culturaltheory is useful in assessing the degree ofpluralism in TA studies. It provides an in-strument to probe the assumptions in theviewpoints of experts, lay people, politi-cians and other actors involved in the tech-nology under scrutiny. It is in this area thatcultural theory and political science canfruitfully meet to realize, together, morereflective forms of dealing with cultural plu-ralism in the praxis of policy analysis.1 Introduction