SOCI 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: The Sociological Imagination, Nuclear Weapon, European Colonialism
Document Summary
Stands for science and technology studies or science, technology and society. Science and technology are the object of study. Spans many academic disciplines: anthropology, history, sociology, philosophy, etc. Individual scientists, theories, observations, inventions should not be studied in isolation but in their social and historical contexts. The practices, beliefs, norms and expectations of the scientific community should be seen as examples of general social processes (broader context + more general phenomenon) Things that are seen as normal in the production of science should be questioned. Takes on the three components of imagination and uses this to understand the role of women in science. Skepticism toward the image of science as the ideal, pure, modern, rational search for knowledge. Recognition that science like any institution is messy. Bound to structures of economic, social and cultural power. Does not deny the reality of scientific knowledge. The discoveries, inventions, publications and ideas produced by scientists are not outside of society.
