Thesis advisor: Eve Spangler / This study seeks to better understand the "public face" of human gene therapy through an examination of coverage of the technology in mainstream U.S. newspapers, news magazines, and online news sites from 1989 to 2011. By conducting a qualitative content analysis that employs a constant comparative method and uses the computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software HyperRESEARCH, prevailing images and metaphors about human gene therapy are identified. These images and metaphors are analyzed through the lens of the sociology of technology, with particular attention given to technological determinism, geneticization, and the sociology of expectations. Further, their connection to issues of self and identity, embodiment, and illness meanings is explored. Four main types of images and metaphors emerge from this analysis: essentialist, fatalistic, expectant, and conflictive. While these types present an array of diverse (and sometimes conflicting) characterizations of human gene therapy, they all contribute to a positive, hopeful public face of the technology, despite its limited successes and sometimes tragic failures over the past three decades. The study considers the broader implications of these findings and addresses the role sociologists could play in helping the public to navigate the media discourse surrounding human gene therapy and other emerging medical technologies. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

This thesis is set in the context of social science’s interest in the generation of expectations, the news media, and neurotechnologies. It is a qualitative case study that examines the nature and impact of news media reporting of some pioneering research, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging in an attempt to diagnose and communicate with severely brain-injured individuals. Previous news media studies exploring neurotechnologies have been quantitative, or have tended to focus on how or why the news media represents neurotechnologies and/or the impact of the reporting, but rarely all three together. My thesis looks at all three aspects of the news media reporting of my case study. I draw on three sets of empirical data. First, those related to the production of the media - the press releases which reported the research; ten semi-structured interviews with science press officers; and the relevant expert comments posted on the Science Media Centre’s website. Second, 51 newspaper articles reporting the research. Third, five semi-structured interviews with relatives of severely brain-injured patients. I show that the mood of excitement and ‘breakthrough’ present in the press release reporting of this research was closely echoed in the news coverage. This excitement influenced the views and beliefs of only some of the relatives I interviewed. I then examine the nature of hype and by drawing on Haraway’s concept of ‘situated knowledges’ (1988) I argue that individuals view hype differently depending on their profession, industry and/or socio-cultural background. Finally, I show how whilst both the news media and the scholarly literature portrayed this research as ethically contentious, the issues most prominently discussed by scholars and/or journalists do not necessarily equate with relatives’ concerns. My findings aim to contribute to the sociology of expectations, media theory, the sociology of bioethics and the public understanding of science.

This study examines the production and the introduction of a fertility treatment which gained great attention both in Sweden and internationally during the 1960s. In the procedure, hormones were extracted from human pituitary glands which had been collected from autopsies. After this, the hormones were purified and injected into the female patients as a treatment for certain kinds of sterility. Carl Gemzell, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Uppsala University, was a key figure in the development of the treatment. He was described by the media as a medical pioneer and later became one of Sweden’s most famous doctors and scientists. The fertility treatment also gained a lot of attention in the media as ”the miracle drug that made barren women pregnant”, especially since it often resulted in multiple pregnancies. In the 1960s, pregnancies with quadruplets, quintuplets, sextuplets and even septuplets became world sensations. By using the sociology of expectations as theoretical approach, which focuses on the performativity of expectations and visions in science production, this study aims to investigate how expectations of an effective fertility method were articulated in both the scientific sphere and in the media. This of course also relates to how the risks of the multiple pregnancies were dealt with. The analysis is divided into three chapters, where the first chapter examines the politics of science in Sweden during the post-war period and how Gemzell’s work in Uppsala generated expectations of a scientific milieu on the front line of fertility research. The next chapter is focused on the media’s interest in Gemzell and how he became a celebrity. A central argument for the study is that his public status helped to create scientific credibility for the treatment, especially among the public. The final chapter focuses on the media reporting about the multiple pregnancies. They were often treated as sensations, which was somewhat paradoxical as they were hazardous and frequently resulted in the death of the premature children.

I föreliggande avhandling undersöker Hultman hur bränsleceller och vätgas underolika tidpunkter beskrivits som delar i ett framtida energisystem 1978 – 2005. Detempiriska materialet som analyseras är statliga utredningar, böcker, rapporter,tidningsartiklar och riksdagstryck. Syftet är att undersöka vilka aktörer sombeskrev tekniken, på vilket sätt tekniken konstruerades samt hur dessa förflyttadesoch förändrades under olika tidsperioder. Avhandlingens empiri undersökstillsammans med teorier om utopier och förväntningar på teknik samt tidigareforskning om svensk energi- och miljöpolitik. Avhandlingen är indelad i kronologiskt strukturerade kapitel vilka länkas sammanav analytiska platåer. I slutkapitlet diskuteras resultaten av den historiskaförändringen från visionerna om vätgassamhällen till en vätgasekonomi i treteman. Inom det första temat analyseras omdaningar över tid med fokus påaktörer, argument och teknik. I det andra temat fokuseras hur föreställningar omtekniken byggdes upp till nya höjder mellan 2000-2005. Bland annat diskuterashur tekniska, ekonomiska, miljörelaterade och säkerhetsmässiga förväntningarskapades med hjälp av starka metaforer som vatten, vägkartan och marknaden.Dessa förväntningar gjordes på olika platser och lånades mellan lokaliteter. I dettredje temat diskuteras vätgasekonomin som en ekologiskt modern utopi. I ensådan extrapoleras framtiden utifrån en ökning i takten av teknikförändringarna,men samtidigt ska samhällsstrukturerna konserveras. / At the turn of the millennium, high expectations were connected to a technologycalled fuel cells. It was said that it could contribute in a significant way to solvingthe problem of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere andreverse the greenhouse effect. But this was not the first time fuel cells andhydrogen has been described as a technology for the future and connected todifferent kind of utopias. On the contrary, this technology has a history ofexpectations connected to it and in this dissertation the period 1978 – 2005 isanalysed with focus on reoccurring arguments, main actors and how descriptionsof expectations move between different locations and different periods of time.These questions are answered with an analysis of empirical material that containsgovernmental reports, mass media articles, scientific reports as well as field notesfrom an participatory study. In this dissertation the analysis is read together withprevious research regarding Swedish energy- and environmental politics as wellas international research about fuel cell and hydrogen. The investigation is alsoinformed by theories about utopia and sociology of expectations. The main conclusion to be drawn from the historical period 1978 – 2005 is thatthe utopia hydrogen and fuel cells are said to be parts of change, from differentpossible hydrogen societies to one hydrogen economy. This change can beexemplified with changing roles of science, technology and the state as well ashow former environmental activists and political parties change their values.