Sociology of Science and Technology

The course introduces students to the Sociology of Science and Technology. The starting point of the course is the understanding of science and technology as social phenomena. The first part of the course has a theoretical orientation and focuses on the genealogies and contemporary sociological theoretical approaches to science and technology. In this context, central concepts, theories and approaches are analyzed, including, among others, the Kunian revolution, science as a social institution and the questioning of functionalism, the strong program of the sociology of scientific knowledge, relativism and social constructionism, approaches within the framework of "laboratory studies", actor network theory, "opening the black boxes"/ethnography and reflexivity. The above constitutes the bridge for the thematic development in the second part of the course, which approaches specific issues concerning, among others, scientific and technological policy, biases based on gender/race/social class/citizenship, etc., feminist epistemologies of science, public understanding of science, technoscientific research and commercialization, etc. Before the completion of the course lectures, contemporary fields of study and research in the sociology of science and technology will be presented in the context of the geneticization - digitalization of society (genetic engineering, AI/algorithms/big data, robotics, virtual/augmented reality), enhancing the sociological imagination of students.