Promises of in vitro meat scientists and the criticisms of reflective scholars : a discourse analysis of recent promises and concerns in the academic In Vitro Meat discourse

Contemporary society is saturated with scientific and technological innovations and continuously New and Emerging Science and Technologies (NEST) surface with promises of a better tomorrow. The promises of NEST are typically first voiced by enactors of NEST – often scientists. Combining interest in scientists’ promissory NEST-rhetoric and the emerging technology ‘In Vitro Meat’ (IVM) which promises to revolutionise future meat consumption, this thesis studies valuation of IVM in the recent academic IVM discourse. The focus of the thesis is on relations between IVM’s promises and concerns, and how these expectations are contextualised and contested. The thesis thereby contributes to IVM debates and the sociology of expectations – a field of research centring around NEST-expectations. Beyond discursive analysis, the thesis provides some considerations for assessing IVM’s expectations by highlighting a problematic dominant frame which regards IVM as a meat-substitute.