Social Sciences and the Communication of Science and Technology in France: Implications, Experimentation and Critique

2012 ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
Michèle Gellereau ◽  
Yves Jeanneret ◽  
Joëlle Le Marec
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Communication Of Science

Making Materials: The Case of Elaborating Qualities of Bioplastics

Design Issues ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damla Tonuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Alternative Route ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Made In

This article focuses on materials by taking an alternative route into considering their relationships to products. I draw on approaches from social sciences, especially studies influenced by science and technology studies, and conceptualise materials (and products) as made in their social and technical environment, and their properties as enacted in different environments of which they become a part, such as production and branding. Building on this framework, I focus on the production process in which materials, namely bioplastics, are produced and are transformed into products and so material-product relationships are formed, and new materials are substituted with existing ones. As such this study shows that actually products make materials as well, and that properties of materials are not intrinsic to them so as to be to chosen by designers, but that properties of materials are partly made in relation to the products into which they are made.

Natural Law and Mechanical Engineering

1984 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
P. C. Haarhoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Technological Revolution ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
The Social

The first technological revolution, in the fourth millennium BC, was followed by immense social progress. The second revolution, which is now taking place, could lead to an even greater development in the human sciences, by setting men free from their daily struggle for existence while simultaneously exacting high social standards. Natural law - the “marriage between the ways of heaven and the ways of earth” of the Chinese - represents a route to such progress. In natural science and technology, natural law demands that conclusions be based on observation rather than speculation. The social sciences would do well to follow this example.

scholarly journals Astrobiology in Teacher Training. Addressing research methodology and epistemology in Humanities and social-science classes

2019 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 01016
Author(s):  
Michael Waltemathe ◽  
Elke Hemminger
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
High School ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ethical Judgement ◽  
Teacher Training Programs ◽  
Humanities And Social Sciences

In a preliminary empirical study of social-science and humanities students enrolled in teacher-training programs at two German universities, the authors have found a disparaging view of technology and science among said students. Their material knowledge of technology and science is the result of content they learned in high-school themselves. After having graduated, they chose social-sciences or humanities as their subjects. There is little or no overlap between science and engineering subjects and social-science and humanities subjects in teacher training programs. Apart from the students choices, this is also the consequence of an institutionally established and strict segregation of the academic fields that does not, unlike in other university systems, require the students to enroll in at least basic interdisciplinary courses. The result for science and technology awareness among the students is problematic, to say the least. While their knowledge of science and technology -being the product of high-school education - is often not up to date and also lacking in current developments, their moral and ethical judgement about the implications of scientific research and use of technology is strong. The preliminary study also showed that the students are interested in new technological and scientific developments, they just lack the ability to include this into their worldview, which is very strongly influenced by their choice of subjects in the humanities and social-sciences. Teaching these students has convinced the authors that their lack of technology and science knowledge combined with their inherent tendency to judge science and technology from the point of view of their respective field, impairs their ability to take an adequate part in science and technology discourse. Their awareness, and thus, their competence to rationally engage with science and technology is lacking. That is in part due to the depiction of science and technology in humanities and social-science courses, and on the other hand due to a lack of current science and technology education as part of a humanities and social-sciences program. The result becomes even more alarming if we assume that the future teachers will continue to relay their heavily biased opinions on science and technology in general, as well as their deficient knowledge of specific technologies to their future students, thus generating a vicious cycle of inadequate technology and science awareness. As the authors’ study has shown, these students are really interested in science and technology, they just lack key competencies to make an analytical connec- tion between their field of choice (humanities and social sciences) and technology and science, without resorting to moral and ethical judgement.

Relationships between the social and the natural sciences

1995 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Erik Fenstad
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Basic Science ◽  
Technology Policy ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Science And Technology Policy ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Integrated Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

An integrated science and technology policy is both complex and urgent. We have gradually come to understand that the relationship between science and technology is not neat and linear: it is not a case of first some basic science; thereafter some design and development; and then products, profits and the end to unemployment! A comprehensive science and technology policy is not a matter which is internal to science and technology, it also lies within the domain of several of the social sciences. This article reflects, in some generality, upon the relationship between the social and natural sciences, and examines some of the differences and similarities in methods and models as used by the social and natural sciences.

Digital Transformations of Scholarship and Knowledge

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric T. Meyer ◽  
Ralph Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Shared Objects ◽  
Organisational Structures

This chapter examines how the Internet is transforming academic research in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The question of changes in knowledge is one that science and technology should be well equipped to answer. The chapter also offers examples that show the range of e-Research. E-Research needs novel tools, and organisational structures as well as researchers should change their everyday practices. VOSON can be seen as part of a burgeoning engagement in e-Social Science. The e-Research component has the advantage of enhanced visibility. The sociology of science and technology does not have the conceptual tools to simultaneously deal with how research communities are oriented to shared objects, how this impacts various styles of science and knowledge, and how scholarly practices are therefore being transformed.

On Systems and International Regimes

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst B. Haas
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
International Regimes ◽  
International Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Creation

As the consequences of science and technology impinge more and more on international relations, states attempt to deal with the promise and dangers implicit in these consequences by the creation of international regimes. The nature and scope of such regimes are justified, in part, by the scientific and technological givens with which they are to deal. Increasingly, however, the process of justification is dominated by constructs and arguments taken from systems theory, thus mixing the epistemological styles of the natural and the social sciences. It is often not clear whether justification in terms of systems theory is rhetoric or based on demonstrated isomorphisms. The article seeks to answer this question by presenting a four-fold typology of systems theories together with their assumptions and relevance to the creation of international regimes. The article then examines three specific proposals for international action on science and technology, prepared under OECD auspices, in order to demonstrate the extent to which they rely on systems theory and to determine how persuasive the systemic justification is. The conclusion: there is an inverse relationship between the elaborateness of the systemic justification and the acceptability of the regime on logical, empirical, and moral grounds.

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