Managing Science and Some basic definitions?
Technology in Society (MSTS)
▪Science
INTRODUCTION
▪Technology
MICHIEL VAN OUDHEUSDEN
▪Society
ATHENA INSTITUTE
2025-2026
Birth of STS One STS origin story…
Science and Technology Studies (STS) = the study of S&T&S Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts
a relatively recent discipline (multiple disciplines), originating in the 60s ▪1979 book by sociologists of science Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar
and 70s, following Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). ▪Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego (CA)
▪Studied how the daily activities of working scientists lead to the construction
STS was the result of a “sociological turn” in science studies. of scientific facts
▪ Science, Technology, and Society (STS) ▪Like anthropologists study “strange tribes”
▪ Social Studies of Science (SSS) ▪Focus: Writing / texts / diagrams (“transcriptions” and “inscriptions”)
▪“The main purpose of a laboratory is to take statements of one level of
facticity and transform them to another level” → How facts are stabilized
,Reality is socially constructed From speculation to fact
Example (Latour & Woolgar 1979): 1. TRF began as a hypothesis, described with uncertainty
TRF (thyrotropin releasing factor; a chemical structure) is 2. Lab work: Through assays, purification, and experiments, the substance gained credibility
Pyro-Glu-His-Pro-NH2
3. Inscriptions: Data were turned into graphs, printouts, and papers, stabilizing the claim
Nonsense → Possible → False → Possibly True → Solid Fact
4. Social uptake: Repeated citation and community acceptance helped close debate
Latour is not denying facticity 5. Result: TRF was no longer a hypothesis but a scientific fact, constructed through practice
and consensus
At least three ‘technologies’ needed to make
facts (Shapin, 1984)
Lab life today
▪Material (experiments)
Flash-forward: Socio-technical integration
▪Literary (accounts) = you should write about it (media) research (STIR) http://cns.asu.edu/research/stir
▪ = Laboratory engagement studies that assess
▪Social (witnesses) and compare the varying pressures on – and
capacities for – laboratories to integrate broader
societal considerations into their work
▪Not a ‘God trick’: the myth that science can be separated from
social, political, economic, etc. influences
, What does this tell us? From the lab to the ‘outside world’
Example question: Why are you using chemical X in your assay? Why not chemical Y?
Answers: Considerations may be of a material nature (physical, chemical, mechanical
properties) and bound to finite resources (time, space, money); they may be of a social
nature (laws, institutions, culture, group dynamics); or human nature (ethics, psychology,
http://www.tvnewscheck.com/marketshare/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/nuclear-waste-warning-sign-rotten-grungy-29917617.jpg
personal beliefs, interests).
→ Science as a social system and a social practice; more than purely ‘technical.’
Typology of problem structures
(Hisschemöller & Hoppe 1996)
Complex, intractable (“wicked”) problems
Moderately
Unstructured
structured ▪a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve
problems:
problems: because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing
endless
debate on set
debates requirements that are often difficult to recognize
of means
(Wikipedia)
▪Science and technology: remedy and poison
Moderately
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/sites/default/files/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Abortion--008.jpg
Structured
structured ▪Science and technology intricately linked: “techno-
problems:
problems: science”
debate on
debate on
Close to technicalities ▪ e.g., scanning tunnelling microscope
values structured problem example:
certainty breaking leg and going to the
hospital
When you are observing a process you are at the
same time intervening
Close to agreement
, From descriptive to prescriptive Opportunities
▪Descriptive: What is ? Medical innovation
▪Prescriptive: What should be ?
Opportunities
Drones (e.g., Ukraine)
Problems
MICRO, MESO, MACRO
SCALES
Technology in Society (MSTS)
▪Science
INTRODUCTION
▪Technology
MICHIEL VAN OUDHEUSDEN
▪Society
ATHENA INSTITUTE
2025-2026
Birth of STS One STS origin story…
Science and Technology Studies (STS) = the study of S&T&S Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts
a relatively recent discipline (multiple disciplines), originating in the 60s ▪1979 book by sociologists of science Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar
and 70s, following Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). ▪Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego (CA)
▪Studied how the daily activities of working scientists lead to the construction
STS was the result of a “sociological turn” in science studies. of scientific facts
▪ Science, Technology, and Society (STS) ▪Like anthropologists study “strange tribes”
▪ Social Studies of Science (SSS) ▪Focus: Writing / texts / diagrams (“transcriptions” and “inscriptions”)
▪“The main purpose of a laboratory is to take statements of one level of
facticity and transform them to another level” → How facts are stabilized
,Reality is socially constructed From speculation to fact
Example (Latour & Woolgar 1979): 1. TRF began as a hypothesis, described with uncertainty
TRF (thyrotropin releasing factor; a chemical structure) is 2. Lab work: Through assays, purification, and experiments, the substance gained credibility
Pyro-Glu-His-Pro-NH2
3. Inscriptions: Data were turned into graphs, printouts, and papers, stabilizing the claim
Nonsense → Possible → False → Possibly True → Solid Fact
4. Social uptake: Repeated citation and community acceptance helped close debate
Latour is not denying facticity 5. Result: TRF was no longer a hypothesis but a scientific fact, constructed through practice
and consensus
At least three ‘technologies’ needed to make
facts (Shapin, 1984)
Lab life today
▪Material (experiments)
Flash-forward: Socio-technical integration
▪Literary (accounts) = you should write about it (media) research (STIR) http://cns.asu.edu/research/stir
▪ = Laboratory engagement studies that assess
▪Social (witnesses) and compare the varying pressures on – and
capacities for – laboratories to integrate broader
societal considerations into their work
▪Not a ‘God trick’: the myth that science can be separated from
social, political, economic, etc. influences
, What does this tell us? From the lab to the ‘outside world’
Example question: Why are you using chemical X in your assay? Why not chemical Y?
Answers: Considerations may be of a material nature (physical, chemical, mechanical
properties) and bound to finite resources (time, space, money); they may be of a social
nature (laws, institutions, culture, group dynamics); or human nature (ethics, psychology,
http://www.tvnewscheck.com/marketshare/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/nuclear-waste-warning-sign-rotten-grungy-29917617.jpg
personal beliefs, interests).
→ Science as a social system and a social practice; more than purely ‘technical.’
Typology of problem structures
(Hisschemöller & Hoppe 1996)
Complex, intractable (“wicked”) problems
Moderately
Unstructured
structured ▪a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve
problems:
problems: because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing
endless
debate on set
debates requirements that are often difficult to recognize
of means
(Wikipedia)
▪Science and technology: remedy and poison
Moderately
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/sites/default/files/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Abortion--008.jpg
Structured
structured ▪Science and technology intricately linked: “techno-
problems:
problems: science”
debate on
debate on
Close to technicalities ▪ e.g., scanning tunnelling microscope
values structured problem example:
certainty breaking leg and going to the
hospital
When you are observing a process you are at the
same time intervening
Close to agreement
, From descriptive to prescriptive Opportunities
▪Descriptive: What is ? Medical innovation
▪Prescriptive: What should be ?
Opportunities
Drones (e.g., Ukraine)
Problems
MICRO, MESO, MACRO
SCALES
