Making Sense : Markets From Stories in New Breast Cancer Therapeutics

Where do markets come from? Markets come from stories! Focusing on economic actors, their setting, and their products as well as the stories that create and shape them, the book advances a perspective for a cultural analysis of market emergence using qualitative as well as novel computational text analytic methods. "Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and a leading cause of death for women worldwide. With advances in molecular engineering in the 1980s, hopes began to rise that a non-toxic and non-invasive treatment for breast cancer could be developed. These hopes were stoked by the researchers, biotech companies, and analysts who worked to make sense of the uncertainties during product development. In Making Sense Sophie Mützel traces this emergence of 'innovative breast cancer therapeutics' up to the 2010s, through the lens of the narratives of the involved actors. Despite the notorious unpredictability of cancer drug development these actors are tasked with establishing a client-base and capturing the attention of potential investors, even before trials are completed. Combining theories of economic and cultural sociology, Mützel shows how stories are integral for the emergence of new markets; stories of the future create a market of expectations prior to any existing products. Making Sense uses thousands of press statements, media reports, scientific reports, and financial and industry analyses to illustrate these mechanisms, presenting a fresh view of how life-prolonging innovations can be turned into market products"-- Provided by publisher "Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and a leading cause of death for women worldwide. With advances in molecular engineering in the 1980s, hopes began to rise that a non-toxic and non-invasive treatment for breast cancer could be developed. These hopes were stoked by the researchers, biotech companies, and analysts who worked to make sense of the uncertainties during product development. In Making Sense Sophie Mützel traces this emergence of "innovative breast cancer therapeutics" from the late 1980s up to 2010, through the lens of the narratives of the involved actors. Combining theories of economic and cultural sociology, Mützel shows how stories are integral for the emergence of new markets; stories of the future create a market of expectations prior to any existing products; stories also help to create categories on what such a new market and its products are about. Making Sense uses thousands of press statements, media reports, scientific reports, and financial and industry analyses, and combines qualitative and large-scale computational text analyses, to illustrate these mechanisms, presenting a fresh view of how life-prolonging innovations can be turned into market products."-- Site de ProQuest Ebook Central Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and a leading cause of death for women worldwide. With advances in molecular engineering in the 1980s, hopes began to rise that a non-toxic and non-invasive treatment for breast cancer could be developed. These hopes were stoked by the researchers, biotech companies, and analysts who worked to make sense of the uncertainties during product development. In Making Sense Sophie Mützel traces this emergence of "innovative breast cancer therapeutics" up to the 2010s, through the lens of the narratives of the involved actors. Despite the notorious unpredictability of cancer drug development these actors are tasked with establishing a client base and capturing the attention of potential investors, even before trials are completed. Combining theories of economic and cultural sociology, Mützel shows how stories are integral for the emergence of new markets; stories of the future create a market of expectations prior to any existing products. Making Sense uses thousands of press statements, media reports, scientific reports, and financial and industry analyses to illustrate these mechanisms, presenting a fresh view of how life-prolonging innovations can be turned into market products Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Markets and Stories 2 Breast Cancer Therapies and Innovation 3 A Market of Expectations 4 Making Sense of the Market 5 Patterns in Meaning-Making: Categories over Time Conclusion: Markets from Stories Appendix A: Research Design and Data Appendix B: Technical Details on Formal Analyses Notes Bibliography Index