Living in a Technological Culture: Introduction to Science and Technology Studies Part 1

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Science and technology shape culture. The influence of science, for example, ranges from its inspiration for 20th century avant-garde movements to its impact on our dominant values and metaphors. Technology and science have an impact on mobility patterns and gender and sexual identities. But also on the standardisation of practices in health care. Or think about the way mobile phones have changed what it means ‘to be alone’ and how organ transplantation has redefined our understanding of life. Also ‘scientific planning’ has reshaped our policy-making practices. However, there is, vice versa, a cultural influence on science, technology too. Historical and comparative studies have shown how different cultural circumstances yield very different forms and contents of science and technology. Thus we can only hope to understand science and technology when we acknowledge their cultural base. These issues and many others are object of studies of the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). This course offers an introduction to Science and Technology Studies (STS). It will introduce you to the multiple ways in which science and technology, individuals and institutions mutually shape one another to the benefit and sometimes detriment of society. In this course, we take a “critical” approach to science and engineering. By this, we do not intend being negative about science and technology. But we will reflect on different views of the society-technology-science relationship. We will try to find answers to questions like 'what does it mean to live in a technological culture? Or how can we bridge the technological divide between the North and the South? What is the role of the media in the popularization of science? How do we deal with the vulnerabilities of our high-tech complex society? These are a few of the questions which we will try to tackle in this course.