FSS:SOC400 Science, technology and polit. - Course Information

SOC400 Science, technology and politics

Extent and Intensity

1/1/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

doc. PaedDr. Zdeněk Konopásek, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. PhDr. Ing. Radim Marada, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová

Timetable

Tue 12:00–13:30 U32

Prerequisites (in Czech)

Předmět je určen především pro studentky a studenty magisterského studia sociologie na FSS. Je nicméně otevřený i pro studující ostatních oborů na Masarykově univerzitě. Velkou výhodou je zázemí v sociologické teorii (zejména konstruktivismus). Předpokládá se slušná znalost angličtiny – studenti čtou nelehké odborné texty v angličtině. Zapsání předmětu prosím dobře zvažte s ohledem na své síly a možnosti; pokud práci v kursu vzdáte během semestru po řádném zápisovém období, budete na konci automaticky hodnoceni známkou F (tento postup byl doporučen na poradě katedry sociologie na jaře 2008).

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 13 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

The main objectives are:
1) to provide an introduction to contemporary science and technology studies,
2) to map more general sociological consequences and key topics of this research field, and
3) to explain basic principles of actor-network theory.

Syllabus

• 1. Construktivism and deconstruction
• 2. The linguistic turn
• 3. The problem of reflexivity
• 4. The Mertonian school
• 5. The critique of Merton, the strong programme and its followers
• 6. Actor-network theory and contemporary STS
• 7. The power and weakness of "pure facts": On devitalization from sociological point of view
• 8. On pure science and pure politics in the controversy over the highway bypass of Plzen
• 9. The economy of civic participation: On the controversy over the household waste incinerator in Praha
• 10. Points of reversal and networks of irreversibility: On the Plan of waste management and (again) on the highway bypass
• 11. Pure facts revisited: The non-political politics of Natura 2000
• 12. Sociology of science and contemporary sociology

Literature

• LATOUR, Bruno. Science in action :how to follow scientists and engineers through society. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987, 274 s. ISBN 0-674-79291-2. info
• LATOUR, Bruno. We have never been modern. Translated by Catherine Porter. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991, ix, 257 s. ISBN 0-674-94839-4. info
• + 13 článků či kapitol/13 articles or chapters

Teaching methods

The following methods are used:
1) lectures,
2) class discussions of readings,
3) individual study of literature.
After having discussed (1) constructivism and deconstruction, (2) the problem of reflexivity, and (3) linguistic turn in the social sciences, a contextualised history of sociology of science (and technology) will be debated (Merton, the strong programme of David Bloor, ethnographies of laboratory life and studies of scientific controversies etc.). Special attention will be paid to actor-network theory, an approach gaining importance within contemporary social sciences in general (Bruno Latour, Michel Callon, John Law and others). The final set of lectures will discuss a number of empirical examples focusing on the relationship between democratic decision making and scientific expertise.

Assessment methods

Final classification is based on a total score for:
1) written summaries of assigned readings (throughout the semester),
2) active participation in seminar discussions,
3) seminar thesis.
See syllabus for more details.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2009, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2009/SOC400