SOCb2503 Social Responsibility: business, research and innovation

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Róbert Braun (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Csaba Szaló, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Fri 9. 10. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 16. 10. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 23. 10. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 30. 10. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 6. 11. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 13. 11. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 20. 11. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 27. 11. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 4. 12. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 11. 12. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno, Fri 18. 12. 10:00–11:40 bude_upresneno
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 10 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course will focus on what technology means in our current socie$es from a social construc$vist perspec$ve. Its main focus is on the socio-poli$cal nature of technology. It will take as its star$ng point Mar$n Heidegger’s famous text on ‘The ques$on concerning technology’ and show how a new understanding of technology and its embeddedness in social affairs in the second half of the 20th century emerged. The course will offer an introduc$on to by now classic texts and authors of STS, including Winner, Bijker, Latour and Jasanoff. From this theore$cal grounding the course will look at ‘automobility’ as a specific sociotechnical setup and present how this sociotechnical frame is understood by a variety of scholars – as ‘system’, ‘regime’, ‘disposi$f’ or ‘imaginary’. This will lead us to the introduc$on of yet another concept – the ‘nomos of automobility’ which offers a different explanatory tool to understand automobility and sociotechnical setups in general. The course will conclude with an analysis and discussion of what this means for the current $me of technology transi$ons, including autonomous mobility, ar$ficial intelligence and biotechnology.
Learning outcomes
Students a?er comple@ng this course will: - Have a general awareness of what the rela@onship of technology and society is - Understand the concept of o STS (Science and Technology studies) o SCOT (The social construc@on of technology) o Sociotechnical imaginaries o RRI (Responsible Research and Innova@on) - The rela@onship of these concepts to the philosophy of science and sociology - Understand the concept and methodology of social phenomenology - Have sufficient knowledge of different conceptualiza@ons of technology, of automobility, of research and innova@on - Have prac@ce in theore@cal argumenta@on, understanding complex sociotechnical problems and conceptualiza@ons.
Syllabus
  • 1. Friday October 9, 10:00 – 11:30 Technology & society Introduc$on, general concept, theme, administra$ve issues 2. Friday October 16, 10:00 – 11:30 What is technology? Reading: Heidegger: The Ques$on Concerning Technology 3. Friday October 23, 10:00 – 11:30 What is technology? What is STS (Society and Technology Studies)? Reading: Latour: Technology is society made durable 4. Friday October 30, 10:00 – 11:30 What are sociotechnical imaginaries? Reading: Jasanoff: The dreamscape of modernity (an introduc$on) Main Themes II: Automobility 5. Friday November 6, 10:00 – 11:30 What are sociotechnical systems? Reading: Bijker: Of bycicles, bakelites and bulbs (an introduc$on) 6. Friday November 13, 10:00 – 11:30 Automobility as ‘system’ & ‘regime’ and its social consequences Reading: Urry: The system of automobility 7. Friday November 20, 10:00 – 11:30 Automobility as dreamscape and spectacle Reading: Sheller: The city and the car 8. Friday November 20, 10:00 – 11:30 Automobility as nomocracy Reading: Braun-Randell: The nomos of automobility Main themes III: The future of technology and society (Reflec:ons on Covid-19) 9.Friday November 27, 10:00 – 11:30 What is responsible research and innova3on? Reading: Owen et al: responsible research and innova$on 10. Friday December 4, 10:00 – 11:30 What would a post-car world look like? Reading: Braun: The future of road transport (democracy, privacy and social inclusion) 11. Friday December 11, 10:00 – 11:30 The future of Data: DataSpace technologies and digital twins Reading: Braun: Delega$ng human decisions to machines 12. Friday December 18, 10:00 – 11:30 Biopoli3cs and thanatopoli3cs Reading: Agamben: Homo Sacer (What is a camp?)
Literature
    required literature
  • Jasanoff, Sheila, and Sang-Hyun Kim, eds. Dreamscapes of modernity: Sociotechnical imaginaries and the fabrication of power. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
  • Owen, Richard, and Mario Pansera. "Responsible innovation and responsible research and innovation." Handbook on Science and Public Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019.
  • Latour, Bruno. "Technology is society made durable." The Sociological Review 38.1_suppl (1990): 103-131.
  • Heidegger, Martin. "The question concerning technology." Technology and values: Essential readings 99 (1954): 113. APA
  • Bijker, Wiebe E. Of bicycles, bakelites, and bulbs: Toward a theory of sociotechnical change. MIT press, 1997.
  • Urry, John. "The ‘system’of automobility." Theory, culture & society 21.4-5 (2004): 25-39.
  • Sheller, Mimi, and John Urry. "The city and the car." International journal of urban and regional research 24.4 (2000): 737-757.
Teaching methods
online seminar format
Assessment methods
Mode of instruc@on will be: online seminar format. Students will have to write one academic blog post and a final course paper. The academic blog should reflect some current sociotechnical challenge, addressed via learnings acquired in the course (250-500 words); the final paper will address a specific ques@on within the realm of STS and analyze it according to general academic prac@ce, based on literature review and secondary research (but not independent primary research) (2500-3000 words).
Language of instruction
English
Teacher's information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89753590042?pwd=cndDamoyenVpVDFVeEdMaFppMXpZUT09
Evaluation transformed from IHS to MU scale: A+: Excellent -> A A: Very good - > A A-: Good -> B B+: OK -> C B-: Satisfactory -> D C: Acceptable –> E F: Unacceptable/Fail -> F
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2020/SOCb2503