ABSTRACT

Over the last decade or so, the field of science and technology studies (STS) has become an intellectually dynamic interdisciplinary arena. Concepts, methods, and theoretical perspectives are being drawn both from long-established and relatively young disciplines. From its origins in philosophical and political debates about the creation and use of scientific knowledge, STS has become a wide and deep space for the consideration of the place of science and technology in the world, past and present.

The Routledge Handbook of Science, Technology and Society seeks to capture the dynamism and breadth of the field by presenting work that pushes the reader to think about science and technology and their intersections with social life in new ways. The interdisciplinary contributions by international experts in this handbook are organized around six topic areas:

  • embodiment
  • consuming technoscience
  • digitization
  • environments
  • science as work
  • rules and standards

This volume highlights a range of theoretical and empirical approaches to some of the persistent – and new – questions in the field. It will be useful for students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities, including in science and technology studies, history, geography, critical race studies, sociology, communications, women’s and gender studies, anthropology, and political science.

chapter |17 pages

Introduction

Science, technology and society

part II|64 pages

Consuming Technoscience

part IV|128 pages

Environments

chapter 14|17 pages

Political Scale and Conflicts over Knowledge Production

The case of unconventional natural-gas development

chapter 15|14 pages

Not Here and Everywhere

The non-production of scientific knowledge 1

chapter 17|15 pages

Risk State

Nuclear politics in an age of ignorance

chapter 18|25 pages

From River to Border

The Jordan between empire and nation-state

chapter 19|19 pages

State-Environment Relationality

Organic engines and governance regimes 1

part V|83 pages

Technoscience as Work

chapter 20|16 pages

Invisible Production and the Production of Invisibility

Cleaning, maintenance, and mining in the nuclear sector 1

chapter 21|19 pages

Social Scientists and Humanists in the Health Research Field

A clash of epistemic habitus 1 , 2

chapter 22|18 pages

Women in the Knowledge Economy

Understanding gender inequality through the lens of collaboration

chapter 24|15 pages

Science as Comfort

The strategic use of science in post-disaster settings