This book charts the development of nanotechnology in relation to society from the early years of the twenty first century. It offers a sustained analysis of the life of nanotechnology, from the laboratory to society, from scientific promises to societal governance and attempts to modulate developments.

Arie Rip is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Science and Technology in the School of Management and Governance of the University of Twente, the Netherlands.

1. Introduction: The Life and Times of Nanotechnology and Its Governance

2. Umbrella terms as mediators in the governance of emerging science and technology
(with Jan-Peter Voß)

3. Dual dynamics of promises and waiting games around emerging nanotechnologies
(with Alireza Parandian and Haico te Kulve)

4. Folk Theories of Nanotechnologists

5. Emerging de facto Agendas Around Nanotechnology: Two Cases full of Contingencies, Lock-outs, and Lock-ins
(with Marloes van Amerom)

6. Positions and responsibilities in the "real" world of nanotechnology
(with Clare Shelley-Egan)

7. De facto governance of nanotechnologies

8. Constructive Technology Assessment and the Methodology of Insertion
(with Douglas K.R. Robinson)

Index