Credits: 3.
Professor: Clark A. Miller, La Follette School of Public Affairs
Office: 205 Observatory Hill Office Building
Office phone: 265-6017 miller@lafollette.wisc.edu
2:00 p.m. MWF 3349 Engineering Hall
Office Hours: M 3 p.m.-5 p.m.
This course is designed to meet three objectives:
1. To help you learn to use historical, sociological, and philosophical approaches to think critically about the role of science & technology in contemporary societies.
2. To introduce you to a cross-section of specific social problems raised by advances in science, technology & medicine.
3. To provide you with the necessary skills and background to pursue further courses in the field of science & technology studies.
Course requirements
· Classroom participation and reading (20%). Students are expected to attend all class sessions, to come to class having mastered the readings, to have completed any web assignments for a given day, and to participate fully in classroom discussions.
· Exams (40%). The class will have two hour-long, in-class mid-term exams on October 18 and December 13. Each will be worth 20% of your grade.
· Writing assignments (40%). Students are required to submit four writing assignments during the course. Each one is worth 10% of the grade. These are described below:
o In his essay, “Do artifacts have politics?” Langdon Winner asserts that technologies have inherent politics. Write a three-page essay explaining why you agree or disagree with his view. This assignment is due on September 13.
o Based on the materials we collect during the first six weeks of the class, write a five page essay explaining the ethical and political issues raised by therapeutic cloning. This essay is due on October 11.
o Select one of the ten technologies listed in the Technology Review Ten articles I have posted links to on the course webpage. Write a five-page essay exploring the ethical and political issues this technology raises. This article is due on November 4.
o Read the Bill Joy article listed for December 6. Write a three-page essay explaining why you agree or disagree with his argument that we need to relinquish “our pursuits of certain kinds of knowledge.” This essay is due on December 6.
Web assignments
Throughout the course, you will be given readings and assignments that involve materials on the internet. These readings and assignments can be accessed through the course webpage, which is located on my homepage:
http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/facStaff/faculty/miller/homepage.htm
From there, access the “Courses” button at the bottom of the page and select HS 180, Where Science Meets Society.
Some web assignments will involve nothing more than clicking on the appropriate link and reading the referenced materials. Others may be more complicated, however. You may be asked to use search engines to find materials. You may be asked to interpret websites and discuss them in class. These assignments have several purposes. First, they are intended to increase your skills in locating and interpreting websites. Second, they are intended to familiarize you with resources available on the internet that will be helpful to you in future classes. Finally, they are intended to help you think about the social aspects of one particularly important arena where science meets society—the web.
If you have difficulties or questions regarding the web assignments, please feel free to see me during office hours or to make an appointment at some other time.
Course readings
There are two required books for the course, which are available at College Library on Reserve or for purchase at the University Book Store. Other materials are available in a course packet.
Winner, L. (1986). The Whale and the Reactor: A Search For Limits in an Age of High Technology. Chicago, IL, Chicago University Press.
Collins, H. and T. Pinch (1998). The Golem at Large: What You Should Know About Technology. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.
Course subjects
|
Date |
Description |
Reading |
|
9/4 |
Introduction to the course |
|
|
9/6 |
What is science? |
*Shapin, S. (1992). “Why the public ought to understand science-in-the making.” Public Understanding of Science 1: 27-30. |
|
9/9 |
Science as a social institution |
&Traweek, S. Beamtimes and Lifetimes. Chap. 1. |
|
9/11 |
Life in the laboratory |
*Kohler, R. (1993). “Drosophila, a life in the laboratory.” Journal of History of Biology 26: 281-310. |
|
9/13 |
Understanding technology |
Winner. Chapter 1. “Technologies as forms of life” |
|
9/16 |
Technology, ideology, and politics |
Winner. Chapters 2 and 3. “Do artifacts have politics?” and “Techne and politae” |
|
9/18 |
Technology’s users |
*Kline, R. and T. Pinch (1996). “Users as agents of technological change: The social construction of the automobile in the rural United States.” Technology and Culture 37: 763-795. |
|
9/20 |
The Human Genome Project |
|
|
9/23 |
Our Reproductive Future? |
Movie: Gattaca |
|
9/25 |
|
Movie: Gattaca (part 2) |
|
9/27 |
Discussion of Gattaca |
|
|
9/30 |
Genetic ownership |
|
|
10/2 |
In Vitro Fertilization |
Movie: Nova – Making Babies |
|
10/4 |
Biotechnology and Reproduction |
|
|
10/7 |
Technology and identity |
*Cussins, C. M. (1998). 'Quit Sniveling, Cryo-Baby. We'll Work Out Which One's Your Mama!'. Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots. R. Davis-Floyd and J. Dumit. New York, NY, Routledge. |
|
10/9 |
Genetic identity and race |
*Reardon, J. “The Human Genome Diversity Project.” Social Studies of Science 31(3): 365-396. |
|
10/11 |
Duplicating the body: cloning |
|
|
10/14 |
Remaking the body: hi tech athletics |
|
|
10/16 |
Rebuilding the body: stem cells |
|
|
10/18 |
Mid-term Exam I |
|
|
10/21 |
E-commerce: who owns information? |
*A. Branscomb (1994), Who Owns Information, Introduction and Chapter One. New York, NY, Basic Books. Web reading #8 |
|
10/23 |
Data mining |
|
|
10/25 |
Surveillance |
|
|
10/28 |
The Politics of Information |
|
|
10/30 |
Computers and sovereignty |
|
|
11/1 |
Electronic Democracy? |
Winner, Chapters 5 and 6. Web reading #13 |
|
11/4 |
Framing |
*Umberto Eco, “Adventures in Hyper-Reality.” |
|
11/6 |
Framing nature |
Winner, Chapter 7. |
|
11/8 |
Framing environment |
Movie: The Blue Planet |
|
11/11 |
Risk, Values, and Choices |
Winner, Chapters 8-10. |
|
11/13 |
Lay Perceptions of Risk |
Collins and Pinch, Chapters 1&2. |
|
11/15 |
Lay Expertise |
Collins and Pinch, Chapter 3. |
|
11/18 |
Responsibility and Blame |
Collins and Pinch, Chapter 4&5. |
|
11/20 |
Demonstrating Safety |
Collins and Pinch, Chapter 6&7. |
|
11/22 |
The Monarch Butterfly and Bt Corn |
*Losey, J., L. Rayor, and M. Carter (1999). “Transgenic Pollen Harms Monarch Larvae,” Nature 399: 214. *Hodgson, J. (1999). “Monarch Bt-corn Paper Questioned.” Nature Biotechnology 17: 627. |
|
11/25 & 11/27 |
Frankenfoods |
Movie: Harvest of Fear |
|
|
No Class |
Thanksgiving Break |
|
12/2 |
Bioterrorism |
*Cussins, C. “Confessions of a Bioterrorist.” In E. A. Kaplan and S. Squier, eds., Playing Dolly. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press. |
|
12/4 |
Ecoterrorism |
*Sterling Blake (1995). “A Desperate Calculus.” In G. Bear, ed., New Legends. New York, NY, Tor Books. |
|
12/6 |
Knowledge and the Future |
|
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12/9 |
Regrowing Endangered Species |
&Rick Weiss, “Cloning a Comeback?” Washington Post, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2001, p. A01 (to be handed out in class). |
|
12/11 |
Technological Disasters |
Movie: American Experience, Three Mile Island |
|
12/13 |
Mid-term Exam II |
|