230163 SE The Hidden Moralities of Knowledge and Technology (2015S)

In this seminar, we will look at a range of communication settings such as public debates, online discussions and professionalclient interactions in which an apparent scientific truth - established notions of what healthy food is or sound disease prevention, for example is seemingly at odds with experiential knowledge regarding a particular topic. Such frictions are often understood as a collision between two worlds apart, namely that of scientific insights and that of lay concerns.
This seminar proposes a different way of looking at these kinds of situations, namely by shifting the attention to the hidden moralities of knowledge and technology. Rather than being neutral, knowledge and technology are mediators of human relations and practices, in short, of morality. Knowledge claims are used to attribute or deny responsibilities and to negotiate one’s own and other people’s identity. To make true dialogue possible, it is essential to understand and articulate these concealed moralities.
Discursive psychology offers a unique analytic perspective for doing so, as it views knowledge as both mundane and deeply moral. By analyzing everyday, natural conversations, it reveals how people often indirectly refer to what is normal or appropriate, thereby making sense of their own and other people’s actions.
This seminar introduces students to the basic principles of Discursive Psychology and teaches them to apply these insights to topical domains such as food and nutrition, vaccination and ADHD, also in a more practical sense. It connects these insights with the current STS-literature on experts and expertise, and conflicts between ‘lay’ and ‘expert’ participants.