SOCL11058  Science, Technology & Society

This course provides an understanding of the importance of science in contemporary society, including its claims to knowledge and the ways such claims are validated. It assesses the impacts of technology on society as well as focusing upon five main questions which allow students to examine the ethical issues which underpin much contemporary scientific debate: Can Local Knowledges be ‘Science’; Who Owns Your Genes?; Do Animals Have Rights?; Should ‘First World’ Technologies be Exported to ‘Third World’ Nations?; and, Is Technology Gender Neutral? The course is team-taught by academics from the bio-physical sciences, social sciences and the humanities.