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| Academic Year |
2024/2025 |
| Name |
Dott. - MI (1300) Phd School |
| Programme Year |
1 |
| ID Code |
061774 |
| Course Title |
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY |
| Course Type |
MONO-DISCIPLINARY COURSE |
| Credits (CFU / ECTS) |
5.0 |
| Course Description |
Technology is one of the most pervasive features of modern society and the impact of technology on society has been a topic of longstanding concern. This course cultivates a critical approach to technology that highlights how technological objects, both old and new, are shaped by the social and cultural contexts in which they are designed, manufactured, and used.
Students are introduced to a corpus of scholarship that looks at how social relations and society shape technology and get 'inside technology', which highlights how the very design of technology (including the artifacts themselves) embodies important social, cultural, ethical, and political assumptions that inform how we use, value, or reject technology. Readings will examine some of the recent work by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, philosophers as well as feminists and postcolonial scholars who have provided new insights into our understanding of the development and dissemination of technology. Throughout we will look at studies of various technologies, such as bridges, the bicycle, the microwave, birth control, financial markets, the internet, as well as machine learning, algorithms, and AI.
Students will apply the conceptual and methodological tools provided by the discussed literature by writing an analysis of a case study of a contemporary or emerging technology. This will allow for a more in-depth exploration of the conceptual frameworks provided through the examination of particular issues and concerns related to a specific technology. Students will critically examine how their selected technology shapes and is shaped by the social context in which it is produced and consumed, and what the implications are of these processes. Throughout the course students are expected to play an interactive, collaborative, and participatory role by leading and engaging in class discussions and by completing writing exercises. |
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Alphabetical group
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Name
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Teaching Assignment Details
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From (included)
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A
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ZZZZ
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Hesselbein Christopher Lorenz
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