Science and Technology in Society: From Biotechnology to the Internet (Key Themes in Sociology) - Hardcover

Kleiman, Daniel Lee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0631231811 ISBN 13: 9780631231813

Publisher: *Wiley-Blackwell, 2005

Synopsis

This thoughtful and engaging text challenges the widely held notion of science as somehow outside of society, and the idea that technology proceeds automatically down a singular and inevitable path. Through specific case studies involving contemporary debates, this book shows that science and technology are fundamentally part of society and are shaped by it.

• Draws on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory.
• Avoids dense theoretical debate.
• Includes case studies and concluding chapter summaries for students and scholars.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Lee Kleinman is Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. He is the author most recently of Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce (2003).

From the Back Cover

This thoughtful and engaging text challenges the widely held notion of science as somehow outside of society, and the idea that technology proceeds automatically down a single inevitable path. Through specific case studies involving contemporary debates, this book shows that science and technology are fundamentally part of society and are shaped by it.

Drawing on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory, this book is a first-rate study of technoscience that places power, stratification, and discourse at its center. The author shows how actors (typically social groups or organizations) in powerful positions shape developments in technoscience in significant ways, and how new developments affect people differently depending on class, race, gender, and geographical location. Avoiding dense theoretical debate, this book is ideal for those interested in science and technology studies.

Drawing on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory, this book is a first-rate study of technoscience that places power, stratification, and discourse at its center. The author shows how actors (typically social groups or organizations) in powerful positions shape developments in technoscience in significant ways, and how new developments affect people differently depending on class, race, gender, and geographical location. Avoiding dense theoretical debate, this book is ideal for those interested in science and technology studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: *Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0631231811
• ISBN 13: 9780631231813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160