What happened to technology adoption diffusion research?

Adoption-diffusion research emerged as an important research agenda in rural sociology in the 1940's and in several other fields of applied sociology in the 1950's. During the 1960's adoption-diffusion research by sociologists experienced a dramatic decline in both developed and developing countries. This decline coincided with rapid growth of research in technology generation, adoption and transfer by economists and technologists. This paper explores the reasons for decline in the adoption-diffusion research agenda by sociologists and its emergence as a major research program by economists and technologists. It also explores the reasons why, after a promising start in the 1950's, a move toward convergence of the several traditions faltered.