Enrolling genetic technology in regulation

Focaal ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (46) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Sara Skodbo
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
Genetic Technology ◽  
Social Agent ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Development Technology ◽  
Technological Index ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Theoretical Developments

This article addresses the need to overcome theoretical weaknesses of both technologically and socially deterministic accounts of technological development. Technology does not simply 'impact' on local contexts, but nor does it act as a tabula rasa, subject to the free attribution of meaning by local social actors. Expanding on theoretical developments in the anthropology of art (Gell 1998) and gender and technology (Strathern 1988, 1999, 2001), the essay seeks to explore genetic technology as a social agent and as a technological 'index'. Examining a case of genetic technology regulation and innovation in Norway, the article argues that technology is best understood as an agent that is engaged with on an affective basis by those who interact with it.

Gender and Technology

2010 ◽  
pp. 256-274
Author(s):  
Michela Cozza
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Analytical Approaches

In this chapter the mutual shaping of the technology and gender is analyzed in relation to the phenomenon of gender digital divide. The discussion starts with the re-construction of the theoretical background, shedding light on different analytical approaches to technological development. The gender blind perspective of mainstream technology studies is uncovered; looking at theoretical contributes of feminist and gender studies. This positioning is aimed to consider the cultural and material aspects involved in the digital gender gap. The chapter leads to a general conclusion: it is of utmost importance that researchers, decision-makers and professionals in Information Technology field take into account that all spheres inhabited by human beings are inevitably gendered. The gender mainstreaming approach may inform the construction of a gender-aware research agenda and the identification of the following transformative actions. The synergy among researchers, practitioners and decision-makers at political and business level is crucial for a gender-sensitive and sustainable development.

Gender and Technology

2012 ◽  
pp. 1043-1061
Author(s):  
Michela Cozza
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Analytical Approaches

In this chapter the mutual shaping of the technology and gender is analyzed in relation to the phenomenon of gender digital divide. The discussion starts with the re-construction of the theoretical background, shedding light on different analytical approaches to technological development. The gender blind perspective of mainstream technology studies is uncovered; looking at theoretical contributes of feminist and gender studies. This positioning is aimed to consider the cultural and material aspects involved in the digital gender gap. The chapter leads to a general conclusion: it is of utmost importance that researchers, decision-makers and professionals in Information Technology field take into account that all spheres inhabited by human beings are inevitably gendered. The gender mainstreaming approach may inform the construction of a gender-aware research agenda and the identification of the following transformative actions. The synergy among researchers, practitioners and decision-makers at political and business level is crucial for a gender-sensitive and sustainable development.

scholarly journals Reframing Identities in Argentine Documentary Cinema: The Emergence of LGBT People as Political Subjects in Rosa Patria (Loza, 2008–2009) and Putos peronistas (Cesatti, 2011)

2020 ◽  
pp. 0094582X2090711
Author(s):  
Guillermo Olivera
Keyword(s):  
Queer Studies ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
First Century ◽  
Discourse Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
De Re ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Lgbt People ◽  
And Gender

Using film semiotics, queer studies, and discourse theory as developed by Laclau, Mouffe, and Žižek, an enunciative and rhetorical analysis of Rosa Patria (Pink Motherland) (Santiago Loza, 2008–2009) and Putos peronistas, cumbia del sentimiento (Peronist Faggots, Cumbia Feeling) (Rodolfo Cesatti, 2011) points to the changes in the political and cinematic frames that have enabled the transformation of LGBT people into political subjects in the context of the Argentine documentary of the twenty-first century. The metaenunciative and metadiegetic marks made evident by reframing processes in audiovisual texts can be read as a discursive transition from “element” to “moment” and as cinematic-reflexive symbolization of the traumatic event posed by the dislocation or antagonism that institutes these identities in situated local contexts, contexts contemporary with the struggles for diverse sexual citizenship that led to the promulgation of Argentina’s Equal Marriage (2010) and Gender Identity (2012) Laws. Utilizando herramientas de la semiótica del cine, la teoría queer y la teoría del discurso de Laclau, Mouffe y Žižek, un análisis enunciativo y retórico de Rosa Patria (Santiago Loza, 2008 -2009) y Putos peronistas, cumbia del sentimiento (Rodolfo Cesatti, 2011) se concentra en cambios de marcos políticos y cinematográficos que hacen posible la transformación de las personas LGBT en sujetos políticos en el documental argentino del siglo XXI. Esas marcas metaenunciativas y metadiegéticas que los procesos de re-enmarque dejan en los textos audiovisuales pueden leerse como pasaje discursivo de “elemento” a “momento” y como simbolización cinematográfico-reflexiva del acontecimiento traumático de la dislocación o antagonismo que instituye a dichas identidades en contextos locales situados, contextos contemporáneos a las luchas por una ciudadanía sexual diversa conducentes a la promulgación de la Ley de Matrimonio Igualitario (2010) y la Ley de Identidad de Género (2012).

scholarly journals Social assessment of technology and humanitarization of engineering in the information society

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-486
Author(s):  
V. A Tsvyk ◽  
I. V Tsvyk
Keyword(s):  
Information Society ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Social Assessment ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Technology ◽  
Moral Assessment

The article considers definitions of the contemporary technology and its social and moral assessment. In the information society, humanitarization of engineering and technical education in general becomes extremely important together with the social-humanitarian knowledge in the interdisciplinary assessment of the scientific-technological development. Technology Assessment (TA) is a new scientific discipline, a theory of assessing and forecasting the development of technology, and a practice of consulting. Based on the TA, algorithms are developed to identify negative effects of technology and to make scientifically sound decisions. An interdisciplinary dialogue on the social assessment of technology should focus not only on technocratic tasks but also on the social-humanitarian methodological and epistemological foundations of the TA. In recent years, this component of the social assessment of technology has influenced the Western-European academic discourse on Responsible Research and Innovation, which reflects the scientific understanding of the importance of ethical reflection of technical activity. Thus, there is an obvious need for the combination of the social-humanitarian expertise of innovative technological projects with technical, mathematical and applied methods in the information age. Contemporary radical changes determined by the scientific-technological revolution require new approaches, methods and forms of interaction between people and communities, while their global nature determines universal ethical principles of these relationships. The post-modern information development of Russia will be accompanied not only by implementation of information technologies in all spheres of life, but also by the social-moral assessment of technology, humanization and humanitarization of engineering, strengthening personal professionalism and creative abilities.

scholarly journals Youth in the margin in Morocco: a qualitative approach to the perception of subjectivity and agency politics

2021 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 01007
Author(s):  
Ilham Sadoqi
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Youth Agency ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Third Moment

This paper seeks to investigate the potentials of youth agency in the margin of society and understand the prospects for social action or “Hirak” as an ongoing sweeping protest wave of a marginalized population. Based on a national qualitative study about youth and marginality in Morocco, this paper will focus on three moments. First, it will examine youth perception, their representation of their subjectivities, and how the realities and experiences of exclusion and “Hogra” manifested in inequalities, injustice, and systematic violence have shaped their beliefs and desire to act. The second moment brings to the fore their apprehension of the hegemonic powers of state institutions and social actors to determine their motivations and initiatives to articulate their actions locally and nationally under conditions of domination. The third moment will shed light on the dynamics of youth agency and the nature of their actions, be it individual or collective, subjective or rational. Similarly, it will also consider the structural limitations impinging on the social, political, cultural life, and gender relations. This paper examines the relationship between youth agency in the margin and the emergence of a new quest for social action “Hirak” in different regions of Morocco and how this might pave the way towards renegotiating the existing social contract between society and state.

New Gender Relations in the Transforming IT-Industry of Malaysia

2010 ◽  
pp. 25-47
Author(s):  
Ulf Mellström
Keyword(s):  
It Industry ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
The Core ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
Femininity And Masculinity ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Many ◽  
Opening Up

This chapter investigates how and why computer science in Malaysia is dominated by women. Drawing on recent critical interventions in gender and technology studies the paper aims at opening up for more culturally situated analyses of the gendering of technology or the technology of gendering with the Malaysian case exemplifying the core of the argument. The paper argues along four different strands of critical thought: (1) A critique of the ‘black-boxing’ of gender in gender and technology studies; (2) A critique of the Anglo-centric bias of gender and technology studies advocating more of context sensitivity and focus on the cultural embeddedness of gender and technology relations; (3) In line with that, also paying more attention to spatial practices and body politics in regard to race, class, and gender in gender and technology relations; 4. A critique of ‘western’ positional notions of gender configurations and opening up for more fluid constructions of gender identity including the many crossovers between relational and positional definitions of femininity and masculinity.

scholarly journals Developing Women as ICT Users: A Miniature Scoping Review of Gender and ICTs for Development

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Logan D. A. Williams ◽  
Georgia H. Artzberger
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Inductive Method ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
Temporal Moment ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

There is room for topical and theoretical expansion in the literature on gender and ICT4D (information and communications technologies for development) to better prepare critiques and policy applications that improve gender equity. A constructivist approach was taken to understand the relationship between gender and technology utilizing insights from science and technology studies. Existing theory on the relationship between gender and technology was conceptualized as three categories: women using ICTs as laborers, women using ICTs for leisure, and ICTs as infrastructure impacting women.Thirty articles from four journals (Gender, Technology, and Development, Information Technology for Development, Information Technologies & International Development, and Gender and Development) were coded using an iterative-inductive method. The sample encompassed all issues published between July 2016 and December 2016. Findings suggest that, in that temporal moment, scholarship on gender and ICT4D conceptualized the gender and technology relationship by illuminating how women use ICTs for: increased communication and spread of information, and increased productivity. Some scholarship focused on justice, gender and ICT4D or gendered fantasies about ICTs. Missing from that temporal moment was scholarship illuminating: women using ICTs as scientific instruments, ICTs allowing women to participate in outsourced jobs, and ICTs commodifying women.

The International Political Sociology of Risk

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Lobo-Guerrero
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Political Sociology ◽  
Ethical Problem ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Risk Research ◽  
Theoretical Developments

Conceptions of “risk” have permeated different forms of governance in both developed and developing countries. Many scholars have theorized how societies, states, organizations, and economic actors cope with uncertainty, giving rise to an international political sociology (IPS) of risk. A major concern of the IPS of risk is how uncertainty has become a central problem for governance. The ways in which risks are assessed and managed are taken as problematic spaces from which to question the roles of states, societies, economic actors, and individuals in coping with uncertainty. The origin of risk research as a disciplined field can be traced to Chauncey Starr’s article “Social Benefits versus Technological Risks” (1969), which offers a way of measuring the social acceptability of risks associated with technological development. Starr’s argument exemplifies what is known as the problem of “the ethical transformation of risk.” Risk as an ethical problem is central to modern debates on the distinction between “risk” and “uncertainty.” International Relations (IR) as a discipline has slowly begun to incorporate theoretical developments in risk theory arising from sociology, economics, and anthropology. Beyond rational choice theory implementations of threat-based conceptions of risk, IR scholars began to be influenced by three main currents of thinking risk: the risk society thesis, the governmentality of risk, and modern systems theory. A host of challenges remain with regard to the development of an IPS of risk, foremost of which is theorizing the ways in which power proceeds through practices of uncertainty.

Gender Identity and Transgender Rights in Global Perspective

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Elijah Adiv Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Needs Assessments ◽  
Gender Minorities ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Or Organization

This chapter provides an overview of how gender identity and transgender rights have been defined in an LGBT rights framework, what international and regional organizations and social actors have defined as fundamental trans rights, and, finally, the limitations of applying a homogenizing “trans rights” framework to a vastly disparate array of gender liminal subjectivities and practices. First, the chapter defines the scope and reach of a “trans rights” framework as housed within “LGBT” legal and organizational practices. Next, it outlines the key issues that international and regional trans rights activists, advocates, and academics have outlined as central to addressing their own communities’ needs. Importantly, while the popularity of collapsing sexual and gender minorities into an “LGBT” framework would suggest a coherence of shared identities and practices across cultural and regional experience, this framework may, instead, function to elide profound differences in the formation and application of primarily North Atlantic and Anglophone understandings of “rights” and “needs.” Rather, as discussed in internationally and regionally focused reports, activist needs assessments, and academic work, trans and gender liminal rights have been, regionally, best addressed and met by organizations and groups that are not housed within an “LGBT” framework or organization. Finally, the chapter discusses how approaching “trans rights” through a lens of gender self-determination, rather than as a category of mutually understood and identifiable subjectivities and experiences across different communities of practice, may function to bolster shared rights claims while also, simultaneously, delimiting or delegitimizing overly formulaic understandings of gender experience and expression.

scholarly journals Pathological demand avoidance: What and who are being pathologised and in whose interests?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Allison Moore
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Extreme Caution ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Spectrum Condition ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Control

The term ‘pathological demand avoidance’ was first coined in 1983. In recent years, diagnostic tools have emerged to enable practitioners to identify, name and treat pathological demand avoidance and, at least in the United Kingdom, there is an increasing number of children who attract this label. In addition to what are defined as the core ‘deficits’ of autism, including assumed difficulties in social communication, difficulties in social interaction and restrictive interests, children with pathological demand avoidance are thought to have an extreme anxiety-driven need to control their environment and control the demands and expectations of others. This article will argue that we must exercise extreme caution in accepting the validity of pathological demand avoidance and will suggest that it can be seen as an attempt to psychiatarise autistic children’s resistance, which, in so doing, restricts their agency. First, it will draw on the arguments put forward by some autistic scholars who have claimed that pathological demand avoidance is better understood as rational demand avoidance – an understandable and rational response to the circumstances that one finds oneself in. Second, it will consider the intersection between autism and childhood. When one of the defining characteristics of pathological demand avoidance is an inability to recognise and, presumably, respect social hierarchy, children’s competencies as social actors and active meaning makers of their world can easily become pathologised as defiance. Finally, the article will address the intersections of autism, childhood and gender. Girls are much less likely to be diagnosed as having an autism spectrum condition than boys are, with a ratio traditionally estimated at approximately 1:4. However, pathological demand avoidance diagnoses are fairly evenly spread between boys and girls. It will be argued that it is girls’ resistance to the ordinary and everyday demands of her as a girl and her subsequent rejection or transgression of those expectations that is being pathologised.

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