Universität Wien
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233020 VO Science, Technology, Society (STS): Key Questions and Concepts (2020W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 23 - Soziologie
Moodle

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Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Kick-Off: Welcome and introduction, 05.10.2020, 12.30 - 15.00, at 'Hörsaal 32, Hauptgebäude' (for STS Master Students only).

All materials from the lecture class (slides + recording off the lectures) will be made available online. It is therefore possible to follow the entire lecture class online. However, every session up to 15 students are able to follow the lecture presence-based in the STS seminar room. A sign-up for this is required.

  • Tuesday 06.10. 16:15 - 18:15 Seminarraum STS, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien (Kickoff Class)
  • Thursday 08.10. 09:15 - 11:15 Seminarraum STS, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 20.10. 16:15 - 18:15 Seminarraum STS, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Thursday 22.10. 09:15 - 11:15 Seminarraum STS, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 03.11. 16:15 - 18:15 Digital
  • Thursday 05.11. 09:15 - 11:15 Digital
  • Tuesday 17.11. 16:15 - 18:15 Digital
  • Thursday 19.11. 09:15 - 11:15 Digital
  • Tuesday 01.12. 16:15 - 18:15 Digital
  • Thursday 03.12. 09:15 - 11:15 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of this lecture is to give students an overview of the basic questions and key issues at the core of the study of the relations of science, technology and society. Throughout the lecture you will be introduced to important approaches and concepts that can be used to address these questions/issues.
We will start by introducing four empirical cases which should give us a first feeling for the multifacetedness and the complexities of issues at stake when trying to understand the interactions of science, technology and society. They will accompany us through the lecture and discussion class and serve as shared reference points. STS master students will also use these cases in the other core classes for the case based learning approach.

In the subsequent lectures we will address the following issues:
- We will start by asking questions concerning the special status of scientific knowledge and explore what it means to understand science as a specific set of practices, performed in specific places and guided by social processes; this will also lead us to ask for the social organisation of science and its core values.
- We will then move to the area of technologies and investigate how we understand the emergence of new technologies, what societal values are inscribed into them, and how they change and structure our ways of living in contemporary societies. We will specifically also investigate standardization and classification as one powerful way of ordering the world.
- We will then move on to study how futures and pasts are related in embedding technologies into contemporary societies and study the challenges of controversies, risks and disasters.
- Finally, we will look into science-society relations, the governance of science and technology, and how citizens can participate in technoscientific societies.

Assessment and permitted materials

The final grade will be based on the written exam of two hours at the end of the term. Learning materials for the exam are the oral lectures given, the pdfs of the slides available on the e-learning platform as well as the texts you had to read. So even if you only take the lecture class and not together with the discussion class, you have to do the reading for the exam!

This course uses the plagiarism-detection service Turnitin for larger assignments.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Grading Scheme
The examination for the lecture will be graded on a basis of 100 points in total.

100-87 points Excellent (1)
86-75 points Good (2)
74-63 points Satisfactory (3)
62-50 points Sufficient (4)
49-0 points Unsatisfactory (5) (fail)

There are no tools and resources permitted in the lecture exam, except for a paper English language dictionary.

Examination topics

Learning materials for the exam are the oral lectures given, the pdfs of the slides available on the e-learning platform as well as the texts you had to read. So even if you only take the lecture class and not together with the discussion class, you have to do the reading for the exam!

Reading list

Association in the course directory

MA HPS: M 1.1, M 1.2, M 1.3

Last modified: Fr 12.05.2023 00:20