Science, Technology and Society Studies(2006-07)

Outline of the course:

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1100 to 1230 hours

Interactions between science, technology and society (STS) are complex. They strongly converge and impact on one another, though notions exist that science is outside society, and technology emerges and proceeds automatically down some well defined pathway. History of science and technology tells us that this is far from truth. The course will discuss several issues, starting with those having biology and environment linkages. In the process, we will try to think about the following issues: How will future health and agricultural systems look like? What are genetically modified crops or new vaccines and who will benefit from these?  What are the implications of global diseases? What will be the quality of life of common persons, say in India, in 2040? Understanding of issues at the interface of science, technology and society will help dialogues in areas like 'science and its practice in sustainable development', which, in turn, will advance the practice of sustainable development, through knowledge-sharing among different stakeholders.

Suggested readings: (more will be suggested during the course)

1.      Daniel Lee Kleinman, Science and Technology in Society: From Biotechnology

to the Internet, Blackwell Pub. UK. 2005

2.      I. Lowe (Ed), Teaching the Interactions of STS, Longman Cheshire, UK. 1987

3.      M.R. Smith and L. Marx (Eds), Does Technology Drive History? MIT Press,

USA. 1994

4.      Bakhtaver S Mahajan and Chitra Natarajan, Health Matters, HBCSE, 1999

Assessment: Assignments, seminars and classroom participation and initiative