Science, Technology & Society

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Science and technology play a powerful role in structuring our world, in everything from our physical environment to our culture. It is thus imperative that we understand how these entities work. What constitutes reliable knowledge? How do the technological systems in which we are embedded throughout our lives come to be, and how can they be changed? In this historic moment of a global pandemic playing out against a backdrop of fake news, alternative facts and increasingly autonomous technologies, these questions are more critical than ever. This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Science & Technology Studies in order to provide them with analytical and conceptual tools needed to confront the complex questions that arise where science and society intersect. Its objective is thus not so much to present a particular body of empirical information as it is to equip students with the analytical skills to understand complex multi-dimensional phenomena. The purpose is to give students both the opportunity and the tools to consider science and technology in a broader political, social, historical and economic context, and to reflect on how the practices of scientific and technological development shape their own individual and collective experience.