This is a graduate course examining interactions between technology and modern society as seen from the vantage point of social and political theory. The class has three objectives: (1) careful reading of works in history, literature, philosophy, and social science that seek to illuminate our understanding of technology's place in human experience; (2) developing a grasp of key themes and issues in a manner compatible with each student's view of social theory; (3) applying this knowledge to contemporary social and political issues that involve technological choice.

Meetings. We will meet once a week in seminar. Please read the assigned selections carefully and take notes on the key ideas. Come prepared to discuss the readings and your thoughts on them.

Books. Several books for the course are on sale in the campus bookstore. Occasional articles will be copied and placed in the STS graduate student lounge. Read or copy these and return them promptly.

Exams. As a way to focus your thinking, there will be two exams. The first will be an in class midterm on Tuesday, October 3. The second will be a take home final exam distributed in class. Sample questions for the final will be available one week in advance. You may prepare for the exams in any way you like (teams are encouraged), but the writing must be your own. The final will be will be distributed in class December 5 and are due in my STS mailbox no later than 4:00 on Friday, December 8.

Research paper. All members of the seminar will write a paper on a question or theme that interests them. Please consult with Mr. Winner early in the term about the topic and approach you've chosen.

Grades. You will be evaluated as follows: (1) participation in class discussion, 25%; midterm exam, 25%; term paper, 25%; final exam, 25%.

Suggestions for papers.

Here are some examples of topics your term paper might cover.

1. Study of a contemporary social or political issue related to existing technology or pending technological choice or policy, e.g., reproductive technology and control of the body; manufacturing technology and the definition of work; global production and political sovereignty; new media and social expression; philosophies of sustainable development.

2. Comparison of ideas in two or more thinkers -- Ellul, Foucault, Heidegger, Marx, Mumford, Harvey, Haraway, etc. -- whose writings illuminate a particular dimension of technology and human experience.

3. Theoretical reflections on a contemporary sociotechnical landscape: computer network, megamall, fertility clinic, "virtual reality," interactive media, high performance workplace, architecture of the homeless, etc.

4. Critical evaluation of key differences between two or more schools of thought in technology and social theory, e.g., liberalism, Marxism, pragmatism, constructivism, etc.

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August 29: Introduction

Organizational meeting to discuss aims and activities of the seminar. What is "technology"? Why does it matter? What is "theory"? What should a theory of technology and society seek to accomplish? There will also be a lecture, "Technology Criticism and Its Legacy".

September 5: Technology in World History

Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization (entire)
and Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change, Ch. 1 (in graduate lounge)

September 12:: Industrialism, Historical Materialism and Revolution

Karl Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach," pp. 143-145;
The German Ideoloogy, pp.146-200
"Marx on the History of His Opinions," pp. 3-6
The Grundrisse, selections, pp. 278-2934
Capital, Volume I, selections, pp. 319-328, pp. 392-411.
Engels, Condition of the Working Class in England, pp. 579-585.
[All of the above in The Marx-Engels Reader, R. Tucker (2nd ed.)]

September 19: Technological Innovation and Social Hierarchy

Alfred D. Chandler, The Visible Hand, Intro. and Chs. 1-3, 6-9, 11 and Conclusion

Frederick Winslow Taylor, Principles of Scientific Management (selections in lounge)

September 26: Making and Marketing Modernity

Terry Smith, Making the Modern, chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13

October 3: Midterm exam

October 10: No class

October 17: Social Shaping and Social Construction

Langdon Winner, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" in The Whale and the Reactor
Wiebe Bijker and Trevor Pinch, "The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts," in
The Social Construction of Technological Systems
Selections from: Shaping Technology/Building Society : Studies in Socio-Technical Change, Weibe E. Bijker, John Law (eds.)

October 24: Technology and Social Criticism

*Everyone read: Richard Bernstein, "Heidegger's Silence? Ethos and Technology," in The New Constellation
And choose one of the following:

Lewis Mumford, The Myth of the Machine: The Pentagon of Power
Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society or Propaganda
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Martin Zimmerman, Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity
Langdon Winner, Autonomous Technology
Theodore Roszak, The Cult of Information
Jeremy Rifkin, The Age of Access
Darin Barney, Prometheus Wired
Andrew Feenberg, Alternative Modernity

October 31: Technology and Gender

Cynthia Cockburn and Susan Ormrod, Gender and Technology in the Making

November 7: Technical Systems and Everyday Life

Choose one:
David Nye, American Technological Sublime
Jeffrey Meikle, American Plastic : A Cultural History

November 14: Globalism and Flexibility

Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society, selections to be announced;
James Womack et. al., The Machine that Changed the World, Chs. 2-3 (on reserve)

November 21: Computing and Politics

Choose one:
Paul Edwards, The Closed World
N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman

November 28: Technoscience and Deconstruction: Hybrids Headed Where?

Donna Haraway, Modest-Witness, Second-Millennium : Femaleman Meets Oncomouse : Feminism and Technoscience
or Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern

December 5: Wrap-up session. Take home final distributed in class.

December 8: Term paper and take home final are due in Mr. Winner's box in the STS office at 4:00 p.m.