Policy and socio-technical change

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Céline Parotte

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

What if governing was still a form of social experimentation? How are decisions made during periods of uncertainty? When do certain technical projects cease to fall exclusively within the remit of engineers and instead be recognised by the players involved as sociotechnical projects, which need to be legitimised and recognised as acceptable by numerous players (experts, decision-makers, civil society, citizens)? What role do political and social sciences play to reveal the eminently political nature of these socio-technical changes?
This course is focused on problems with particularly uncertain contexts, such as having an unusual timescale, being extremely controversial or resonating with current hot or cold issues. While the course has no particular prerequisites, there is a crossover with various other courses: innovation, science and technology policies; analysis and assessment of public policies; practising argumentation; transformation of public administration and public governance.
Based on one or more concrete case(s), such as managing nuclear waste, smart cities, digitisation, bottom-up innovation, socio-technical changes implemented over time by political decision-makers, experts and civil society will be analysed and critically examined by favouring the emergence of multiple critical and analytical points of view. Every concrete case will be associated with contributions from science and technology social studies (STS) which will be presented, discussed and compared with recent stances taken (or not) in law and by political decision-makers as well as with a short press review. The aim will be to increase the points of view and the levels of analysis concerning a problem in order to comprehend the full complexity of it.
Through this collection of texts, students will assess these ST transformations in related or different, independent or interdependent politico-administrative contexts. They will deal with the phenomena of institutionalisation and power in their critical analysis. They will be able to compare and measure the different timescales and dynamics at work from a media, political and scientific point of view, and the way they respond to each other and work together.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

the course aims to enable students to benefit from a series of socio-political comprehension tools for major changes that touch on the relationships between science, technology and society. At the end of the course, students will be able to grasp the stakes, in a critical manner, and map the players and points of view to offer an analysis of different processes at work simultaneously on different levels, from a local arrangement to more systematic structural arrangement. During discussion sessions, they will also develop their ability to argue on complex themes, orally and in writing, in a critical and constructive manner.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Students should have a passive command of English, since the texts in the reading portfolio concerning the scientific references will mostly be in English.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

* The teaching framework will be defined with the students in a collaborative and participatory way during the first session of the course. The teacher will set up a workshop scenario for this purpose. (No preparation is required).
* The teacher will compile a reading portfolio based on the questions and the stages identified during the first session. Students must prepare two of the texts (per session) before each class and write a short individual response paper of 500 words maximum on one or several of the questions asked beforehand (by the teacher or which emerged during the workshop scenario). This response paper will be submitted to the teacher and the other students two days before the class. This will help identify the students' ability to integrate the texts, their ability to grasp two scientific texts in a critical manner and will also serve as a basis for discussion.
* Every class will be organised on the basis of a specific point of view, texts and response papers. The teacher will always begin with a brief general explanation of the theme in question before overseeing a critical and detailed discussion on the texts and the students stances. Students are required to participate actively in every session.
* After every class, each student is required to keep a reflective logbook (maximum 500 words) in which comments and new questions arising from the discussion will be integrated into their own thoughts. The teacher will look through the logbook every week and provide feedback.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face

Recommended or required readings

- Jasanoff, S. (2004). States of Knowledge. The Co-production of Science and Social Order, Routledge (chapter 1 and 2: "the idiom of co-production" and "ordering knowledge, ordering society")
- Joly, Pierre-Benoît (2015), "Governing Emerging Technologies- The need to think out of the (black) box", in S. Hilgartner, C. Miller, and R. Hagendijk (eds.), Science and Democracy- Making Knowledge and Making Power in the Biosciences and Beyond. (London: Routlegde), 21.
- Dean, Mitchell (2010), Governmentality. Power and Rule in Modern Society (London: Sage publication ldt) (Chapter 1).
These three pieces of required reading justify the course's structure and the methodological and normative positioning adopted during this course. They will also help students when they write their final essay.
Students will have to read two texts per class.

Assessment methods and criteria

Students will be assessed (1) on the basis of their active participation in class, their response paper (40 % of the final mark, continuous assessment by the teacher) and their logbook (formative and continuous assessment);
(2) on the basis of a final essay (10 pages maximum, spacing 1.5) in which every student, based on the concepts tackled, will demonstrate their ability to propose a detailed analysis of the different processes at work simultaneously at different levels (40 % of the final mark);
(3) oral defence of the essay (20 %).

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

The seminar will be held during the second term. 

Contacts

celine.parotte@ulg.ac.be
 

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