Science Societies
Resources for Life in a Technoscientific World
Scientific and technical expertise, now largely understood as the ultimate source of authoritative knowledge, are vital to how our societies operate. This punchy introduction to thinking about science-society relations draws on research and concepts to argue for the importance of knowing.
What role do science and technology play in society? What is the nature of expert knowledge? What is science’s relation to democracy?
This introduction to science, technology, and society answers these questions, and more, by exploring contemporary research on topics such as expertise, activism, science policy, and innovation. It offers a comprehensive resource for considering the place that science and technology have in contemporary societies, and the roles that they can and should play.
Accessible to a non-specialist audience, it draws on a rich range of cases and examples, from nuclear activism in India to content moderation in Kenya. Framing science as always social, and society as always shaped by science and technology, it asks: what worlds do we want science and technology to bring into being?
Sarah R Davies is Professor of Technosciences, Materiality, and Digital Cultures in the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna, Austria. Her work explores the intersections between science, technology, and society, with a particular focus on digital tools and spaces. Her previous books include Science Communication: Culture, Identity, and Citizenship (2016) and Hackerspaces: Making the Maker Movement (2017).
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