science and technology studies

science and technology studies
Name	Science and Technology Studies
Established	Mid-20th century
Focus	Intersections of Thomas Kuhn, Robert Merton, Karl Popper, Jürgen Habermas, Bruno Latour
Notable people	Donna Haraway, Michel Foucault, Harry Collins, Sheila Jasanoff, Steven Shapin, Simon Schaffer, Andrew Pickering, Trevor Pinch, Lucy Suchman, Evelyn Fox Keller

science and technology studies is an interdisciplinary field examining the production, circulation, validation, and social consequences of scientific knowledge and technological artifacts. It connects historical, sociological, philosophical, and anthropological perspectives to analyze institutions, practices, and controversies involving figures such as Thomas Kuhn, Max Weber, Karl Popper, Robert Merton, and Bruno Latour. Scholars in the field engage with actors ranging from Royal Society fellows to Bell Labs engineers and address episodes such as the Manhattan Project, the Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA, and the Three Mile Island accident.

Overview and scope

The field situates studies of Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur, and Albert Einstein alongside analyses of institutions like Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, University of Chicago, and Princeton University. It examines technologies developed by AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Boeing, General Electric, and Siemens and explores public controversies involving Chernobyl disaster, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bhopal disaster, Salk polio vaccine, and Human Genome Project. The scope includes regulatory and policy arenas shaped by actors such as Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, European Commission, World Health Organization, and United Nations.

Historical development

Origins trace to engagements among scholars affiliated with Royal Society, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, and University of Edinburgh. Foundational texts and moments involve Thomas Kuhn's work, Robert Merton's sociology, Karl Popper's philosophy, and debates at gatherings like Solvay Conference and policy responses after World War II. The field matured through networks tied to Social Science Research Council, National Science Foundation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, British Society for the History of Science, and journals originating at University of Chicago Press and Oxford University Press.

Key concepts and theoretical approaches

Major frameworks draw on ideas associated with Thomas Kuhn, Michel Foucault, Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, Sheila Jasanoff, Andrew Pickering, Harry Collins, and Trevor Pinch. Concepts include paradigms seen in Thomas Kuhn's work, normalization processes examined by Robert Merton, boundary-work linked to Gieryn, sociotechnical systems studied via Langdon Winner, actor-network theory articulated by Bruno Latour and Michel Callon, feminist critiques introduced by Donna Haraway and Evelyn Fox Keller, and expertise assessed in research on Sheila Jasanoff's co-production and Harry Collins's studies of tacit knowledge. Theoretical lineages intersect with debates involving Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Max Weber, and Norbert Wiener.

Methodologies and research practices

Researchers employ methods associated with Ethnography, Oral history, Archival research, Participant observation, Qualitative comparative analysis, and case studies of episodes like Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA and Three Mile Island accident. Influences include training at institutions such as London School of Economics, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and Columbia University. Empirical projects often examine laboratories like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Bell Labs, and Salk Institute or corporate R&D at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Bell Labs, DuPont, and Roche. Methods blend traditions from History of Science Society, American Sociological Association, American Anthropological Association, and journalism exemplified by reporting in Science (journal), Nature (journal), and The New York Times.

Institutions, communities, and interdisciplinarity

The field convenes within centers and programs at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University College London, University of Toronto, University of California, San Diego, and University of Manchester. Professional organizations include Society for Social Studies of Science, European Association for the Study of Science and Technology, British Society for the History of Science, and funding agencies like National Science Foundation and Wellcome Trust. Conferences and journals link scholars who collaborate across departments in History, Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Engineering, and Law (United Kingdom), forming networks that interact with policymakers at European Commission and World Health Organization.

Criticisms and debates

Critiques come from commentators associated with Martin Rees, Steven Weinberg, Paul Feyerabend, Richard Dawkins, and institutional stakeholders such as U.S. Congress committees and corporate R&D leaders at Microsoft and Google. Debates focus on perceived relativism versus realism raised by exchanges among proponents influenced by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Bruno Latour, and critics invoking Occam's razor-style standards found in communities like Royal Society. Controversies include disputes over policy impact visible in responses to Human Genome Project, regulatory fights involving Food and Drug Administration, and public uptake controversies exemplified by Vaccine controversy episodes and industrial disputes like those around Three Mile Island accident.

Category:Interdisciplinary fields