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| ENVT3026-1 | Social study of science and technology
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| Duration : | 30h Th, 18h Pr |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | François Melard |
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| Substitute(s) : | Clémence Massart |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Organisation and examination :
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| Teaching in the first semester, review in January |
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Course contents :
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| In their production as their practices, science and technology are at the heart of contemporary controversies. This is especially true for the environmental and health fields (BSE, GMOs, agricultural techniques, etc.) but also for the economic and cultural realms which are frequently nested together. The course on the social studies of science and technology (STS) of the Master of Environmental Sciences and Management will allow students to follow a sociological approach to the contemporary environmental issues.
Through five thematic addressed, students will be asked to successively :
1) consider the role of objects in socio-technical controversies and take ownership of one of the four analytical framework mobilized in the Master of Environmental Sciences and Management : ANT (Actor-Network-Theory)
2) consider the role of living beings in environmental issues and their differences with objects
3) identify the different forms of scientific knowledge (experimental and learning sciences)
4) consider the role of "lay persons" (users, victims, amateurs, etc.) in the socio-technical, environmental and health controversy, and their specific cognitive and political contributions
5) understand different configurations of actors who collectively produce knowledge (communities of practice and epistemic communities) |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| Those learning outcomes are the acquisition of major sociological tools to understand the complex socio-technical controversies in the heart of environmental issues and to promote understanding of these contemporary issues. In particular, students will appropriate the actor-network analysis, the multi-sited ethnography (inquiry method), analysis of intergroup relations by the concept of boundary objects and the analysis of the logical internal of groups that produce knowledges. In addition, they will face a variety of environmental issues (from animal testing to the management of nuclear waste, from intensive farming to emerging diseases, etc.). |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| None |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| /// |
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| The class mixes ex cathedra sessions and seminar sessions. After a general introduction to the STS fields of research (historical, thematic, conceptual), the teacher will distribute articles to students. Read by all students, these articles will be managed and presented to the class in groups. Will follow a group discussion designed to ensure that the articles were properly interpreted and their theoretical and practical consequences adequately assessed. Between each topic, the teacher will conduct a general review and suggest additional readings to students in order for them to deepen the theme discussed in each article. |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| A reading list will be made available to students. It will consist of the following items :
- Callon (Michel) et Law (John), « L'irruption des non-humains dans les sciences humaines : quelques leçons tirées de la sociologie des sciences et des techniques », Colloque de Cerisy : Les limites de la rationalité (dir. Bénédicte Reynaud), Paris, La Découverte, 1997, pp. 99 - 118.
- Callon (Michel), « Eléments pour une sociologie de la traduction. La domestication des coquilles Saint-Jacques et des marins-pêcheurs dans la baie de Saint Brieuc », L'année sociologique, 1986, n°36, pp. 169 - 207.
- Capek (Stella M.), « Redéfinir l'endométriose. De la critique féministe à la santé environnementale », Sur la piste environnementale (dir. Akrich M., Barthe Y., Rémy C.), Paris, Presse des mines, coll. Sciences sociales, 2010, pp. 223 - 251.
- Despret (Vinciane), « Des intelligences contagieuses », Qui sont les animaux ? (dir. Jean Birnbaum), Paris, Gallimard, folio essai, 2010, pp. 110 - 126.
- Despret (Vinciane) et Porcher (Jocelyne), « Anim. d'élev. ch. porte parole et plus si aff. », Cosmopolitiques, n°2, octobre 2002, pp. 74 - 90.
- Kohler (Robert E.), « Place and Practice in Field Biology », Science History Publications Ltd, 2002, 22 pages
- Lave (Jean), « Aquisition des savoirs et pratiques de groupe », Sociologie et sociétés, vol. 23, n° 1, printemps 1991, pp. 145 - 162
- Meyer (Morgan) et Molyneux-Hodgson (Susan), « "Communautés épistémiques" : une notion utile pour théoriser les collectifs en sciences ? », Terrains et travaux, n ° 18, 2011, pp. 141 - 154
- Star (Susan Leigh) et Griesemer (James R.), « Institutional Ecology : "Translations" and Boundary Objects : Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology », Social Studies of Science, vol. 19, n°3, 1989, pp. 387 - 420.
- Wynne (Brian), « Une approche réflexive du partage entre savoir expert et savoir profane », Les cahiers de la sécurité intérieure, n°38, 1999, pp. 219 - 236. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| Assessment will be based for half on the quality of the presentations made by the students and their participation in class discussion, and for the other half on an oral exam. A framework will be provided to students to guide them in their presentation. The oral exam will be based on the relationship between concepts and case studies (transversal issues, conceptualisation, link between practice and theory). |
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Work placement(s) :
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Organizational remarks :
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| Active student participation is necessary for the dynamic of the course as it is based on their presentation and group discussion. Students will also have to work collegially and respect deadlines and instructions, which imply a good collective organization. |
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Contacts :
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| Clémence Massart : teaching assistant in charge of the course.
clemence.massart@ulg.ac.be
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