GENERAL
| SCHOOL | School of Economics and Political Science |
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| DEPARTMENT | Sociology |
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| Level of Study | Undergraduate |
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| COURSE CODE | 431033 |
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| COURSE TITLE | Social Theories of Scientific Knowledge (S) |
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| Independent Teaching Activities |
Weekly Teaching Hours |
CREDIT UNITS |
| Lectures |
3 |
6 |
| TOTAL |
3 |
6 |
| Course Type | General Background |
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| Prerequisite Courses | No |
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| Teaching and Examination Language | Greek |
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| THE COURSE IS OFFERED TO ERASMUS STUDENTS | No |
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| Course Webpage (URL) | https://eclass.uoa.gr/courses/SOC151/ |
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(2) LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:
- Realize the social character of science and technology.
- Get rid of stereotypical perceptions of scientific progress and technological determinism.
- Recognize the decisive role that social factors play in scientific change and in the shaping of scientific theories and artifacts.
- Evaluate the comparative advantages of the various social theories of scientific knowledge and the appropriateness of each for the study of specific social phenomena.
- Design and execute social and anthropological research in laboratories and other organizations that produce scientific knowledge.
- Critically evaluate the significance of the gendered gaze in the production of scientific knowledge and technology.
- Monitor the social technologies used in a scientific controversy to legitimize the scientific and methodological concepts of each of the opposing sides.
- They evaluate the role of experts and highlight the network of social relations upon which their expertise is founded.
- Experiment with participatory and inclusive processes for the production of scientific knowledge.
General Capabilities
- Search, analysis and synthesis of data and information
- Adaptation to new situations
- Decision making
- Teamwork
- Working in an international environment
- Working in an interdisciplinary environment
- Generation of new research ideas
- Respect for diversity and complexity
- Demonstration of social, professional, and ethical responsibility and sensitivity to gender issues
- Exercise of criticism and self-criticism
- Promotion of free, creative, and inductive thinking
(3) COURSE CONTENT
The common perception of science places it at the center of the Western world's most significant historical narratives. According to this view, if any institution quintessentially represents the ideology of progress, it is science. In this sense, if we want to understand how humanity managed to reach the level it is at today, the best way is to follow the thread defined by the progress of science.
However, from the 1960s onwards, science steps down from its pedestal, and a multitude of historians, sociologists, philosophers, social anthropologists, etc., begin to re-examine the scientific and technological phenomenon. No longer as the protagonist and driver of historical evolution, but as part of a multifaceted web of cultural factors that both shape and are shaped by social reality. Although in recent years the landscape has become extremely complex, the course attempts to identify the main axes of these theoretical developments and discuss their implications for the historiography and sociology of science and technology.
The individual thematic units of the course are as follows:
- Thomas Kuhn and the changing landscape in the historiography of science
- The challenge to functionalism in the sociology of science
- The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and the Strong Programme
- The Social Construction of Scientific and Technological Reality
- Actor-network theory
- The Anthropology of Scientific Knowledge and Laboratory Studies
- Scientific knowledge and social discrimination
- The gender of technology and the technologies of gender
- Feminist epistemologies of science
- How do scientific controversies end? Persuasion and legitimation
- Experts vs. lay people
- Scientific Knowledge from Below
- Knowledge production in the digital space
(4) TEACHING & LEARNING METHODS – EVALUATION
| DELIVERY METHOD | Elaboration of topics in class and discussion. Lectures by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists specializing in the specific topics of the course. Simulation of social research scenarios. |
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| Information and Communication Technologies |
- Use of Audiovisual Media in Teaching
- View related movies and streaming from online platforms
- Use of students' mobile phones for on-site research and retrieval of specialized information from the World Wide Web.
- Use of the e-class platform to communicate with students and to post supplementary materials.
|
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| Activity |
Semester Workload |
| Lectures |
24 |
| Social research simulations |
15 |
| Study of Required Reading |
41 |
| Study of supplementary material and preparation of assignments |
40 |
| Preparing for an Evaluation |
30 |
| Course Summary |
150 |
Student Evaluation
| Process Description Evaluation |
- The evaluation process is conducted in the Greek language through a written examination covering the entire syllabus and takes the form of essay-type questions.
- During the examination, the use of books and notes is permitted. Collaboration among students is also encouraged for the collective processing of the questions.
- The answer to the questions is considered complete when it is factually accurate, satisfactorily justified, and clearly formulated.
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(5) RECOMMENDED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Suggested Bibliography
- Basalla, G. (1967). The Spread of Western Science: A three-stage model describes the introduction of modern science into any non-European nation. Science, 156, 611-622.
- Chalmers, A. F. (1996). What is this thing called Science?, translated by G. Fourtounis, edited by A. Baltas. Heraklion: Crete University Press.
- Feyerabend, P. (2002). Farewell to Reason, translated by P. Bourlakis. Athens: M. I. Stheatos (Ekkhremes).
- Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial
perspective. Feminist Studies 14, 575-599.
- Kuhn, T. S. (1987). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, introduction and editing by V. Kalfas, translation by G. Georgakopoulos, V. Kalfas. Thessaloniki: Synchrona Themata.
- Latour, B. (2015). Science in action: How to follow scientists and engineers through society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Orlans, H. (1996). Edward Shils’ beliefs about society and sociology. Minerva, 34, 23–37
- Patiniotis, M. (2013). Between the local and the global: History of science in the European periphery meets post-colonial studies. Centaurus, 55, 361–384.
- Roberts, L. (2009). Situating science in global history: local exchanges and networks of circulation. Itinerario, 33, 9–30.
- Sismondo, S. (2016). An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, translated by Varvara Spyropoulou, edited by Manolis Patiniotis. Athens: Liberal Books.
- Woolgar, S. (2003). Science: The very idea. Athens: Katoptron.
- Collective (2013). Shaping Technology – Building Society, scientific editing and afterword by Michalis Asimakopoulos. Athens: NTUA Press.
