This thoughtful and engaging text challenges the widely held notion of science as somehow outside of society, and the idea that technology proceeds automatically down a singular and inevitable path. Through specific case studies involving contemporary debates, this book shows that science and technology are fundamentally part of society and are shaped by it.
Draws on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory.
Avoids dense theoretical debate.
Includes case studies and concluding chapter summaries for students and scholars.
About the Author
Daniel Lee Kleinman is Professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Wisconsin--Madison. He is the author most recently of Impure Cultures: University Biology and the World of Commerce (2003).
Features
Examines the ways that science and technology are integral parts of, and are influenced by, the society in which they exist.
Shows how groups and organizations in power shape developments in technoscience, and how new developments affect people differently depending on class, race, gender and location.
Draws on concepts from political sociology, organizational analysis, and contemporary social theory.
Avoids dense theoretical debate.
Includes case studies and concluding chapter summaries for students and scholars.
