This article contributes to the field of innovation studies by addressing the role of cultural legitimacy in technical innovation journeys. The article develops a new perspective that connects insights from discourse theory, interpretive approaches to culture, cultural sociology and social movement theory. In contrast to functionalist and structuralist approaches (which tend to conceptualize culture in a top-down deterministic manner), our cultural-performative perspective emphasizes agency, collective sensemaking and framing struggles. Cultural change is a contested process, in which various groups perform on public stages to influence the attitudes and opinions of relevant audiences who provide financial resources, protection or support relevant for innovation journeys. We demonstrate the usefulness of this perspective with a longitudinal case study of nuclear energy in the Netherlands , which encompasses both the creation of legitimacy in the 1950s and 1960s, and its contestation by an anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s, which halted the innovation journey.

Niche construction and empowerment through socio-political work. A meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology cases Article (Accepted Version) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Raven, Rob, Kern, Florian, Verhees, Bram and Smith, Adrian (2016) Niche construction and empowerment through socio-political work. A meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology cases. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 18. pp. 164-180. ISSN 2210-4224 This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/54599/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. 1 Niche Construction and Empowerment through Socio-Political Work. A meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology cases AbstractIn the sustai a ilit t a sitio s lite atu e the idea of p ote ti e spa e shieldi g i he innovations from unfriendly selection environments is a fundamental concept. Few studies pause to consider how and by whom such protective space is created, maintained or expanded. The paper develops three propositions to deepen our understanding of the out a d-oriented socio-political work performed by technology advocates. The paper conducts a meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology case studies in the UK and the Netherlands. In each case, analysis finds the cases relevant to the propositions, but requiring finer nuance and further development.

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Abstract:It is widely acknowledged that many renewable energy technologies cannot (yet)

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