Sociology of Technology

JPM926

The course gives an introduction of theories and approaches that are central for researching the interplay between society, science and technology. The course is designed for students with IR and security studies background (but not exclusively so) who are challenged to think more critically about what counts as technology and why, and how science and technology intervene in and with the wider world. Drawing on sociological (but also on anthropological, historical and philosophical) insights, we will explore major debates and perspectives in Science & Technology Studies (STS), such as Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Social Construction of Technological Systems (SCOT). We will focus both on how science & technology co-shape social dynamics, but also on how society, as it were, gets inside science & technology. Hence we will examine the transformative power of science & technology to arrange and rearrange contemporary societies. But we will also ask: is it possible that the very design of technologies and the nature of scientific knowledge claims embody assumptions about the nature of society (i.e. how does culture, gender, ideological presuppositions, implicit theories about society enter into the very design of technologies, technological systems and scientific knowledge claims?). The latter part of the course is specifically designed to provide opportunity for reflections and discussions of perspectives, theories, concepts and examples in sociology of science & technology that are related to IR and security studies.

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