Technological Determinism(s) and the Study of War

Vulcan ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
Steven A. Walton
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Military History ◽  
History Of Technology ◽  
Military Policy ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Military Revolutions ◽  
Strategic Factors ◽  
History Of

The concept of technological determinism has been a mainstay of discussions in history of technology and especially in science and technology studies (sts) for about half a century, yet military history as a field has generally sidestepped the idea as a category of analysis. Military historians, however, would do well to consider some of the insights from these other fields, for they can fall prey to (tacitly) deterministic analyses. Although the emphasis on tactical and strategic factors, as well as leadership and soldiers’ experience, sometimes insulates technological explanations from appearing to be causal, a casual reading of both military history and contemporary military policy seems to show that warfighters and political leaders often see technology as transformative. This is all the more evident in the discussion of military revolutions and especially revolutions in military affairs (RMAs), where technology is a least a leg of the stool, and at “best” a transformative agent.

scholarly journals Infrastructures as Ontological Experiments

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper Bruun Jensen ◽  
Atsuro Morita
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
History Of Technology ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
History Of

Ontology has recently gained renewed attention in science and technology studies and anthropology (e.g. Gad, Jensen and Winthereik 2015; Holbraad, Pedersen and Viveiros de Castro 2014; Woolgar and Lezaun 2013). Yet, it has a considerably longer pedigree than these recent debates might lead one to think. Experiments, of course, have long held the attention of sociologists, historians, and philosophers of science (Collins 1985; Gooding 1990; Shapin and Schaffer 1985). And infrastructures have been the focus of sustained inquiry in the sociology and history of technology (Bowker 1994; Hughes 1983). Once these terms are put into conjunction, however, each gets a somewhat different inflection. The following note briefly explores the conceptual purchase of considering infrastructures as ontological experiments. 

scholarly journals Introduction: Talking STS

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadhila Mazanderani ◽  
Isabel Fletcher ◽  
Pablo Schyfter
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Fiftieth Anniversary ◽  
Technology And Society ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

Talking STS is a collection of interviews and accompanying reflections on the origins, the present and the future of the field referred to as Science and Technology Studies or Science, Technology and Society (STS). The volume assembles the thoughts and recollections of some of the leading figures in the making of this field. The occasion for producing the collection has been the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the University of Edinburgh’s Science Studies Unit (SSU). The Unit’s place in the history of STS is consequently a recurring theme of the volume. However, the interviews assembled here have a broader purpose – to present interviewees’ situated and idiosyncratic experiences and perspectives on STS, going beyond the contributions made to it by any one individual, department or institution. Both individually and collectively, these conversations provide autobiographically informed insights on STS. Together with the reflections, they prompt further discussion, reflection and questioning about this constantly evolving field.

Thickening Transregionalism: Historical Formations of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Southeast Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warwick Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Thought Style ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
History Of

AbstractThis article offers an overview of science and technology studies (STS) in Southeast Asia, focusing particularly on historical formations of science, technology, and medicine in the region, loosely defined, though research using social science approaches comes within its scope. I ask whether we are fashioning an “autonomous” history of science in Southeast Asia—and whether this would be enough. Perhaps we need to explore further “Southeast Asia as method,” a thought style heralded here though remaining, I hope, productively ambiguous. This review contributes primarily to the development of postcolonial intellectual history in Southeast Asia and secondarily to our understanding of the globalization and embedding of science, technology, and medicine.

scholarly journals A Contagious Living Fluid

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 107-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost van Loon
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Pathogen Virulence ◽  
Medical Discourses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Petri Dishes ◽  
Separate Discipline

This article deals with the birth of `the virus' as an object of technoscientific analysis. The aim is to discuss the process of objectification of pathogen virulence in virological and medical discourses. Through a short excursion into the history of modern virology, it will be argued that far from being a matter of fact, pathogen virulence had to be `produced', for example in petri-dishes, test-kits and hyper-real signification-practices. The now commonly accepted objective status of `the virus' has been an accomplishment of a complex ensemble of actors. Indeed, this illustrates why objectification rather than objectivity has become the main focus of science and technology studies. The objectification of `the' virus was by no means a smooth process. It involved more than five decades of highly speculative and fragmented research projects before it became actualized as a separate discipline under the heading of virology. The specific objectification of viruses took place through an inter-disciplinary de-differentiation of research questions, methodologies, techniques and technologies. The main argument of this article is that viruses only became intelligible after the establishment of a virology-assemblage. Its inauguration in the early 1950s was radical and sudden because only then could the various substrands of virological technoscience affect each other through deliberate enrolment, and engender a universal intelligibility.

Science and Technology in Modern Latin America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ragas
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Environmental History ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scholarly Networks ◽  
Modern Latin America

Science and technology are witnessing an auspicious moment in Latin America. Once associated exclusively with dictatorships, economic turmoil, and social unrest, the region is becoming an important technological hub according to the media and specialized magazines. Among the explanations for this “techno-scientific moment” is that scientific communities are expanding scholarly networks to communicate their findings in other languages, applying to external funding, pressing for more national funding, and carving a niche in the competitive scenario of journals and collaborative projects. A geopolitical shift has also contributed to this surge. For instance, the end of the embargo era promises a new epoch of cooperation between scholars in Cuba and the United States, something that we could only have imagined until a few years ago. As this occurs on the surface, scholars and resources keep flowing in multiple directions, strengthening less visible networks that serve as platforms for the next stages of creativity and innovation in the region. Techno-scientific communities are trying to find their own niches based on their own backgrounds by developing nascent areas and training future experts. New journals such as Tapuya: Latin America Science, Technology and Society and the visibility of minorities and vulnerable populations represent a good sign. It is also a good sign that science and technology in Latin America are no longer confined to laboratories and campuses. They are now part of the public debate in social media and the streets, where citizens and scientists engage in discussions on how governments should support scientists and knowledge as engines of development and democracy. To highlight the research on science and technology developed by scholars in and of Latin America, this bibliography offers a comprehensive compilation of references published in the last forty years. I have considered science and technology in a broader spectrum, suggesting studies that use the Science and Technology Studies (STS) approach even indirectly. Therefore, this bibliography compiles references extracted from books, edited volumes, journals, dissertations, newspapers, and websites. The references cover a chronological arch from the wars of Independence to the present published in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Due to the flexible and expansive nature of the STS field, which can also include the study of the environment and history of medicine, I have focused on areas that have not been covered by previous bibliographical essays. I encourage readers to complement this essay with other essays already published by Oxford Bibliographies: “Agricultural Technologies,” “Environmental History,” and “History of Health and Disease in Modern Latin America.”

BOUNDARIES AND AUDIENCES OF NATIONAL HISTORIES OF SCIENCE: INSIGHTS FROM THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE NETHERLANDS

Nuncius ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-345
Author(s):  
ERNST HOMBURG
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
History Of Technology ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research

Abstracttitle ABSTRACT /title The present paper traces the evolution of writing national-oriented histories of science and technology of the Netherlands. Several episodes are distinguished. A first wave of national histories of science and technology was written during the first decades of the 19th century. These histories had a wide scope, which included science, technology, the humanities and the arts. A second wave, which lasted from about 1865 to 1900, was strongly connected to the rise of the scientific professions. Its focus was on the sciences per se, and on the Dutch "Golden Age" of the 17th century. A third wave occurred during and shortly after the Second World War. Its focus was mainly on the "Second Golden Age" of Dutch science (1870-1910), and its major audience were young boys that were to be recruited to the sciences. The second part of the paper discusses the growing influence of "contextualization" in both the history of science and the history of technology from about 1975 onwards. As a result, local factors often received more attention in historical studies of science and technology than national influences. In 1985, Klaas van Berkel undertook a bold attempt to write a new synthesis of the history of Dutch science, but his approach was too strongly influenced by the three previous waves of national histories. From 1989 to 2003 two projects on the national history of technology resulted in 13 volumes on Dutch technology between 1800 and 1970. New research was initiated, and the issue of "national styles" in the development of technology received ample attention. In his conclusions the author points to lessons to be learned from economic history and the history of art, and he concludes with a plea for more historiographical discussion in the history of science and technology.

The Sokal Affair in Context

1997 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hilgartner
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Science History ◽  
Central Lines ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Social Scientific

The failure to consider the Sokal affair in light of other, related episodes has contributed to a wholesale misreading of its significance. The episode has often been offered as evidence for the bankruptcy of a broad and diverse collection offields, variously referred to as cultural studies of science, sociology of science, history of science, and science and technology studies. However, when viewed in context, the Sokal affair illustrates pre cisely why social scientific and humanistic studies of science are necessary. To develop this argument, the author explicitly compares Alan Sokal's experiment with a similar experiment, performed by William M. Epstein and published in this very journal. Comparing the research questions, methods, ethics, and reception of these two experi ments not only reveals the limitations of Sokal's critique but also shows that Sokal has unwittingly endorsed one of the central lines of research in science and technology studies.

scholarly journals THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGICAL CONCEPTS OF DESIGN CULTURE

2017 ◽  
pp. 9-12
Author(s):  
Y. O. Bytsykina
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Design History ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Design Culture ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to introducing new theoretical frameworks and methodological concepts from the field known as science and technology studies (STS) and discussing their potential for design history. The concepts of design and culture are analyzed and compared within the article, providing the possibility of developing the complex concept of “design culture”. The study shows that design can be considered as a social and cultural phenomenon, that design historians may find that the sociology and the history of technology can provide an appropriate theoretical framework and methodological repertoire for studying design, not only as the part of art history. The article introduces main concepts from science and technology studies that might be of particular value to design history and culture, focusing on actor-network theory, script analysis and domestication.

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