Visions of STS: Counterpoints in Science, Technology, and Society Studies (SUNY series in Science, Technology, and Society) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791448452 ISBN 13: 9780791448458

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2001

Synopsis

Visions of STS brings together the views of ten leading scholars to clarify the nature of Science, Technology, and Society Studies and point toward future developments. The interdisciplinary field of STS maps out the interconnected relationships among science, technology, and society in order to better understand both the innumerable benefits as well as problematic challenges. This book, rather than presenting science and technology as autonomous entities, analyzes each contextually as societal-mediated processes that reflect cultural, political, and economic values. It contains four basic programmatic essays that deal with technological determinism, the social constructivist view, STS and policy information, and the issue of interdisciplinarity. Visions of STS also stresses more specialized perspectives of work, education, and public policy analysis, and challenges the way STS itself is pursued. Taken together, these essays offer an exciting and unusually broad overview of STS.

About this title

Review

"This is a strong survey of the field of STS. It covers a lot of ground in ten concise essays that are accessible to non-experts in the field, yet detailed and provocative enough to hold the attention of the more advanced reader." -- Joseph R. Herkert, editor of Social, Ethical, and Policy Implications of Engineering: Selected Readings

"The book is useful, in relatively specific terms (e.g., on the issue of technological determinism) in helping any reader think about the relationships of science, technology, and society. It is also useful in broader terms for those working in and thinking about STS as a field." -- Jesse S. Tatum, author of Energy Possibilities: Rethinking Alternatives and the Choice-Making Proce

About the Author

Stephen H. Cutcliffe is Director of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Lehigh University and coeditor of Technology and the West and Technology and American History.

Carl Mitcham is Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at Colorado School of Mines and author of Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0791448452
• ISBN 13: 9780791448458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Cutcliffe Stephen H., Mitcham Carl