Situated Ethics in Development: STS Insights for a Pragmatic Approach to Development Policy and Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110526
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ransom ◽  
Caitlin Grady ◽  
Lauren Trepanier ◽  
Carmen Bain
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Development Ethics ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Situated Ethics ◽  
Policies And Practices

Technology has played a central role in development programming since the inception of development assistance. Recent development organizations, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, believe technological innovation can improve development outcomes. Development ethics, a field of study focused on the ethical questions posed by development policies and practices, has yet to fully appreciate the ethical dimensions of the science and technology. Addressing this important research and policy gap, we contend that science and technology studies (STS) offers important insights that can be used in combination with development ethics to influence development policies and practices. Utilizing a case study of a private development program in Uganda, we illustrate how STS offers important insights for understanding how a sociotechnical ensemble placed pressure on already scarce water resources. Two dimensions of STS scholarship, the power asymmetries of technological development and the incomplete or partial nature of technoscientific knowledge, are examined and help us to understand how sociotechnical ensembles in development increase the likelihood of the emergence of publics who are negatively impacted by sociotechnical ensembles in development programs. Leveraging STS insights, we argue for the importance of situated ethics—a pragmatic approach to ensuring responsiveness to the emergence of these publics.

scholarly journals Create not to Commercialize: On the Everyday Practices of Russian Technopreneurs Book Review: Bychkova O., Gladarev B., Kharkhordin O., Tsinman Zh. (2019) Fantasticheskie miry rossiyskogo hay-teka [Sci-Fi Worlds of Russian Hi-Tech], St. Petersburg: EUSP Press (in Russian)

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-139
Author(s):  
Daria Lebedeva
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
International Markets ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
Successful Launch ◽  
Wide Readership

What is the reason for the low commercialization of high-tech innovations in Russia? Given the Russian engineers’ high scores on initiative, creativity, and technical competence, why is there no successful launch of manufactured—often amazing—inventions on domestic and international markets? Does Russia have a specific way of development in the sphere of high technologies? The research team of sociologists from the European University at St. Petersburg (EUSP)—Olga Bychkova, Boris Gladarev, Oleg Harkhordin, and Zhanna Tsinman—offer answers to these questions in their book, Sci-Fi Worlds of Russian Hi-Tech. Based on a large set of in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs from Russia, as well as Finland, Taiwan, and South Korea, the authors’ focus is not on institutions but on the technopreneurs themselves, who update the hightech markets on their daily practices, ways of social interaction, worldviews, interactions with developers, technical prototypes, and themselves. Employing the concepts from the theory of practice and science and technology studies (STS), the authors have attempted to re-examine the life worlds of Russian technopreneurs and to align their individual narratives with the sociocultural context in which the daily life of developers is embedded. The researchers show the way that engineers live, in which value categories make sense of their work and daily practices, and how it may determine the technological development of the Russian economy and the whole society at the macro level. The book is filled with detailed and thorough descriptions of methodology and fieldwork, rich and illustrative quotations from the narratives of innovators, and the justification for the theoretical framework of the study. It is addressed to a wide readership and will be useful for sociologists, including those interested in research on science and technology, and for the general public who strives to open up the daily life of those whose works try to “crack the laws of the universe.”

Management of sustainable innovation for national development

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Alvaro Cristian Sánchez Mercado
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
National Development ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The World ◽  
End Use ◽  
Research Centres ◽  
Scientific And Technological Development

Throughout history the development of the countries has been generated mainly by the impulse in two complementary axes: Science and Technology, and Trade. At present we are experiencing an exponential scientific and technological development and the Economy in all its fronts is driven by the intensive application of technology. According to these considerations, this research tries to expose the development of Innovation Management as a transversal mechanism to promote the different socioeconomic areas and especially those supported by engineering. To this end, use will be made of Technology Watch in order to identify the advances of the main research centres related to innovation in the world. Next, there will be an evaluation of the main models of Innovation Management and related methodologies that expose some of the existing Innovation Observatories in the world to finally make a proposal for Innovation Management applicable to the reality of Peru, so that it can be taken into consideration by stakeholders (Government, Academy, Business and Civil Society) committed to Innovation Management in the country

scholarly journals Strategies for the Management of Traditional Chestnut Landscapes in Pesio Valley, Italy: A Participatory Approach

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 536
Author(s):  
Paola Gullino ◽  
Maria Mellano ◽  
Gabriele Beccaro ◽  
Marco Devecchi ◽  
Federica Larcher
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Participatory Approach ◽  
Planning Approach ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Forestry Policies

Through an exploratory case study conducted in the Pesio Valley, northwest Italy, this paper proposes a framework for maintaining traditional chestnut production landscapes and addressing future development policies. The main goal was to understand how to promote a bottom-up planning approach, including stakeholder perceptions in traditional chestnut landscape management. To ensure the sustainability of the landscape, current driving forces and their landscape effects were identified by local stakeholders using a focus group technique. Population ageing, local forestry policies directed towards supporting chestnut growers’ income, social and economic needs, and land fragmentation are the main driving forces that will influence future chestnut landscapes. The focus group participants built two scenarios of possible future development of the chestnut landscape, one characterized by the disappearance and transformation of chestnut stands, the other by their permanence and maintenance. The most recommended strategies for maintaining traditional chestnut cultivation were chestnut processing, fruit designation of origin, and the cultivation of traditional varieties. This study shows that, to preserve the traditional chestnut landscape, the participation of multiple stakeholders is a useful approach in landscape planning. This methodology could guide decision-makers and planners who desire to implement a participatory approach to a sustainable development program for traditional chestnut landscapes.

scholarly journals Trois regards sur la notion de « culture chinoise »

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-116
Author(s):  
Basile Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Interactional Expertise ◽  
General Argument ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Studies

Abstract Chinese studies are going through a period of reforms. This article appraises what could constitute the theoretical and methodological foundations of contemporary sinology today. The author suggests an approach of “Chinese culture” by drawing from recent frameworks of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The paper starts with current debates in Asian studies, followed by a historical overview of the concept of culture in anthropology. Then, two short case studies are presented with regard to two different STS approaches: studies of expertise and experience and the notion of interactional expertise, and the framework of waves and forms. A general argument is thereby sketched which suggests how “Chinese culture” can be understood from the perspective of materiality.

Teachers’ Professional Development in a Climate of Educational Reform

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Warren Little
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
School Organization ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Coaching Model ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Policies And Practices

This essay posits a problem of fit among five streams of reform and prevailing configurations of teachers’ professional development. It argues that the dominant training-and-coaching model—focused on expanding an individual repertoire of well-defined classroom practice—is not adequate to the conceptions or requirements of teaching embedded in present reform initiatives. Subject matter collaboratives and other emerging alternatives are found to embody six principles that stand up to the complexity of reforms in subject matter teaching, equity, assessment, school organization, and the professionalization of teaching. The principles form criteria for assessing professional development policies and practices.

Queere Praktiken der Reproduktion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Charlotte Dionisius
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Feminist Science ◽  
Technology Studies

Ein, zwei, drei oder vier Elternteile, »Sponkel«, »Mapas« und lesbische Zeugungsakte - wer oder was Familie ist und wie sie gegründet wird, hat sich vervielfältigt. Sarah Charlotte Dionisius rekonstruiert aus einer von den Feminist Science and Technology Studies inspirierten, queertheoretischen Perspektive, wie lesbische und queere Frauen*paare, die mittels Samenspende Eltern geworden sind, Familie, Verwandtschaft und Geschlecht imaginieren und praktizieren. Damit wirft sie einen heteronormativitätskritischen Blick auf die sozialwissenschaftliche Familienforschung sowie auf gesellschaftliche und rechtliche Entwicklungen, die neue Ein- und Ausschlüsse queerer familialer Lebensweisen mit sich bringen.

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