Shared values, shared acceptance? Towards an acceptance milieu framework illustrated by renewable energy research

Understanding recurring patterns of public acceptance has become increasingly important for explaining and governing socio-technical transformations such as the energy transition. Addressing this challenge requires understanding both how technologies are evaluated and how socio-cultural value configurations shape these evaluations. Technology acceptance research explains how technologies are evaluated, whereas social milieu research explains how shared value orientations and social positions give rise to recurring socio-cultural value configurations. However, an analytical framework that systematically integrates both perspectives is lacking. To address this gap, this paper develops the Acceptance Milieu Framework, linking shared value orientations and social positions to acceptance judgements. In doing so, it provides a conceptual and methodological basis for analysing and empirically reconstructing recurring socio-cultural patterns of technology acceptance. To illustrate the analytical utility of the framework, representative survey data on public acceptance of the German energy transition are analysed through two recurring societal conflict fields that serve as illustrative cases. ... mehrThe empirical illustration shows that shared value orientations are systematically associated with different societal priorities and corresponding patterns of acceptance judgements. These findings suggest that public acceptance cannot be understood solely through attitudes towards technologies but must also be understood in relation to the socio-cultural value orientations through which technological change is interpreted. The framework thus establishes a systematic approach to empirically reconstructing Acceptance Milieus and analysing how socio-cultural value configurations shape recurring patterns of technology acceptance.