4S Mission
Fostering interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine across the globe.
Latest 4S News
Chronicity and Its Social Lives: Reflections on Everyday Experiences of Osteoarthritis
Published On: Nov 7, 2025
Deadline: Sep 15, 2025
In this post, Perseverence Madhuku discusses the tensions between biomedical, social, and personal understandings of ageing, immobility, and care in Zimbabwe through the case study of Osteoarthritis.
Call for Assistant Editors for 4S Backchannels (Global South)
Published On: Nov 27, 2025
Deadline: Dec 15, 2025
The Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) is looking for STS graduate students, postdocs or early career scholars from/based in the Global South (especially Africa, Middle East, Asia) who can contribute as Assistant Editors for 4S Backchannels.
The candidate will be part of the team sharing and disseminating STS news, research from/about Global South in the form of short academic writings. Besides some editorial skills, they will encourage potential authors to contribute with their w...
CfP | Examining the State of STS in Southeast Asia: A (Technological) Snapshot
Published On: Oct 18, 2025
Deadline: Dec 31, 2025
The editors of East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (EASTS), together with guest editors Tobias Burgers and Ian Kalman, invite submissions for an upcoming special issue. We welcome manuscripts that engage with the theme of the special issue. The abstract outlining its scope is included below. Scholars with relevant work are encouraged to submit full manuscripts directly through the EASTS submission system: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/teas20
When submit...
4S Publications
Science, Technology, and Human Values
For more than forty years, Science, Technology, & Human Values has provided the forum for cutting-edge research and debate in the field of science and technology studies.
Between Code and Culture: The Evolving Role of Conversation Designers and UX in AI Development
Elizabeth Rodwell1Department of Information Science Technology, 14743University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-related technologies available to consumers have been rapidly advancing but without parallel insight into the social process of their design....
Machine's Eye View: Postmodern Data Science and the Politics of Ground Truth
Jathan SadowskiEmerging Technologies Research Lab, Faculty of Information Technology, 2541Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
This paper advances the critical analysis of machine learning by placing it in direct relation with actuarial science as a way to further draw out their shared epistemic...
Making the Global Local: The Case of Chinese Research and Innovation Evaluation Systems
Julia Kirch Kirkegaard, Alan Irwin, Xuan Li
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Starting with China's increasingly prominent role in the global politics of science, this paper considers the case of Chinese policies for the evaluation of Research &...
The Park Multiple: Practices of Coordination in a Conservation–Tourism Partnership in South Africa
Wisse Van Engelen, Annet Pauwelussen, Esther Turnhout
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Conservation–tourism partnerships are often promoted as win–win solutions to the twin problems of underfunded conservation and unsustainable development. Critics on...
“Bogeymen,” “Murderers,” and “Loonies”: Emotions in Dutch Debates on 5G and Health
Floortje Moes, Christian Bröer, Klasien Horstman
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Scientific advice is often solicited in governance, yet it is increasingly challenged in the public domain. Public participation is often suggested to mediate opposing...
Engaging Science, Technology and Society
Engaging Science, Technology, & Society is an online, open access publication of The Society for Social Studies of Science.
The Difference—and Promise—of ESTS
Published On: Dec 31 2025
Aalok Khandekar, Clément Dréano, Noela Invernizzi, Ali Kenner, Duygu Kaşdoğan, Grant Jun Otsuki, Angela Okune, Sujatha Raman, Tim Schütz, Federico Vasen, A N Windle, Emily York
In this final editorial for the 2020–2025 Editorial Collective, we reflect on how we have worked to action on our key editorial commitments, which included: cultivating greater transnationalization in the field, deepening open...
What Do We Mean When We Say Carbon Capture and Storage? STS and the Open Questions of a Technology in Emergence
Published On: Dec 31 2025
Vivian Underhill, Jessica Smith
Carbon sequestration is a relatively recent phrase that refers to a broad suite of technologies meant to minimize the amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and many scientific...
How Transnational is 4S? Institutional Scaffolding and the Long Road to a Global STS
Published On: Dec 31 2025
Noela Invernizzi, Sofía Foladori-Invernizzi
This article examines the transnationalization of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), analyzing its evolution from a predominantly North American and Eurocentric organization to a more globally inclusive scholarly...
When ‘Open’ is Still Far from Good Enough: The Work of Counter-Mapping with Political Software
Published On: Dec 31 2025
Luis Felipe R. Murillo
What does “openness” mean when it comes to crafting digital tools and infrastructures for housing justice action research? This question is particularly urgent as global internet companies unleash new geospatial technologies...
4S Blog: Backchannels
Beyond 'Yes or No': Affective Consent, and The Complications of Acknowledging Non-Verbal Consent
This post is the first in a 4-part series on Sex and Gender in Primate Worlds, following up on a panel of the same name at the 4S 2025 convening in Seattle, Washington. The following post in the series will be released on January 19th.
The Power of Instauration: Reimagining Aesthetic Practices
(Re)reading dependency: technology and power in Latin America / Releer la dependencia: tecnología y poder en Latinoamérica
The bush turkey among the cats: misrecognition, modifications, and expertise in AI-operated lethal cat control
Backchannels content is contributed by our members to highlight news relevant to their work.
Making and Doing: STS Beyond the Four Corners of the Paper
STS News
Items submitted by the community and emailed to members monthly.
CfP | Irrationality and the Age of AI: Language, Ethics, and the Future of Human Expression
Call for Assistant Editors for 4S Backchannels (Global South)
The candidate will be part of the team sharing and disseminating STS news, research from/about Global South in the form of short academic writings. Besides some editorial skills, they will encourage potential authors to contribute with their w...
CfP | Footprint 40: Conditions of Architecture
University of Cincinnati | Assistant Professor, Blue Humanities
