Schedule
Introduction
Week 1 - Society and technology
Mon., Aug. 26 – Course introduction
What is "technology"?
What is "society"?
How are they related?
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, intro, pp. 1-17
FILM:
Charlie Chaplin, "Modern Times" (1936)
Wed., Aug. 28 – Technology "in action"
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, ch 1, pp. 21-62
RECOMMENDED:
Fetterman, Ethnography: Step by Step
Technology as a social institution
Week 2 - The actor-network approach
Mon., Sept. 2 - (LABOR DAY HOLIDAY)
Wed., Sept. 4 – "From weak points to strongholds"
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, ch's 2-3, pp. 63-144
RECOMMENDED:
Hughes, Rescuing Prometheus
Week 3 - Technology development as network-building
Mon., Sept. 9 - " Insiders Out "
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, ch 4, pp. 145-176
*** Fri., Sept. 13 – Research Workshop #1***
Discussion of Research Topics
*** Research Topics DUE ***
Week 4 - Sustaining technological networks
*** Wed., Sept. 18 – Validating technologies
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, ch 5, pp. 179-213
*** Fri., Sept. 20 – "Centres of calculation ***
REQUIRED:
Latour, Science in Action, ch. 6, pp. 215-257
Week 5 – Scientific controversy & public policy
Mon., Sept. 23 - "Science Wars": the debate over endocrine disruption
FILM:
Frontline, "Fooling with Nature" (1998)
Wed., Sept. 25 – Mid-Term Exam #1
Social construction of technology
Week 6 – Introduction
Mon., Sept. 30 - A theory of technological change
REQUIRED:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 1, pp. 1-18
SKIM:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 5, pp. 269-290
RECOMMENDED:
Bijker, et al. The Social Construction of Technological Systems
Wed., Oct. 2 - Relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, closure
REQUIRED:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 2, pp. 19-100
Week 7 – Bakelite & fluorescent lighting
Mon., Oct. 7 - Technological frame, inclusion
REQUIRED:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 3, pp. 101-197
*** Fri., Oct. 11 - Semiotics and micropolitics of power ***
REQUIRED:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 4, pp. 199-267
Week 8 - Conclusion
Mon., Oct. 14 - Sociotechnical ensembles, configurations, obduracy
REQUIRED:
Bijker, Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs, ch. 5, pp. 269-290
Wed., Oct. 16 – Research Workshop #2
*** Discussion of Preliminary Findings ***
Feminist perspectives on technology and society
Week 9 – Introduction
Mon., Oct. 21 – Feminism and technoscience
REQUIRED:
Haraway, Modest_Witness, intro, ch 1, pp. 1-48
RECOMMENDED:
Terry & Calvert, eds. Processed Lives
Wed., Oct. 23 – Semantics
REQUIRED:
Haraway, Modest_Witness, ch's 2-3, pp. 49-124
Week 10 – Pragmatics
Mon., Oct. 28 – Gene; fetus
REQUIRED:
Haraway, Modest_Witness, Part III, ch's 4-5, pp. 125-212
Wed., Oct. 30 –
FILM:
"Frankenstein" (1931)
Week 11 – Conclusion
Mon., Nov. 4 – Race
REQUIRED:
Haraway, Modest_Witness, ch's 6-7, pp. 213-275
Wed., Nov. 6 – Mid-Term Exam #2
Society, technology & the environment
Week 12 – Natural capitalism
Mon., Nov. 11 – (VETERANS DAY HOLIDAY)
Wed.., Nov. 13 – The next industrial revolution
REQUIRED:
Hawken, et al., Natural Capitalism, preface, ch's 1-5, pp. ix-xiv, 1-110
RECOMMENDED:
Pena, The Terror of the Machine
*** Revised Abstract, Detailed Outline & Bibliography Due ***
Week 13 – Food for life
Mon., Nov. 18 – Tunneling through the cost barrier
REQUIRED:
Hawken, et al., Natural Capitalism, ch's 6-8, pp. 111-169
Wed., Nov. 20 – Capital gains
REQUIRED:
Hawken, et al., Natural Capitalism, ch's 8-10, pp. 144-212
Thanksgiving Break (Nov. 25-29)
Week 14 – Once upon a planet
Mon., Dec. 2 -
REQUIRED:
Hawken, et al., Natural Capitalism, preface, ch's 11-15, pp. 213-322
Wed., Dec. 4 – Mid-Term Exam #3
Conclusion
Week 15 – Research Workshop #3
Mon., Dec. 9 – Student presentations
Wed., Dec. 11 – Student presentations; course wrap-up
Final Examination - (Wk. of Dec. 16)
*** RESEARCH PAPERS DUE ***
last updated November 18, 2002