Social Studies of Science and Technology: Looking Back, Ahead

BERNW ARD JOERGES AND HELGA NOWOTNY YET ANOTHER TURN The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that's most interesting. Richard Fcynman This volume was originally conceived as a contribution to yet another 'tum', not cap tured by one of the many adjectives that have served to describe the collective meander ing of the scholarly community in search of direction, It was meant to mark the millen nial turn, a seemingly purely chronological event, but one in search for great meanings and invested with loaded significances. The editors wanted to seize the opportunity of the moment in order to pause and reflect on the sociology and history of social studies of science and technology. The moment came and went and the new millennium, barely nine months later, thrust its historical marker upon the world through a horrendous and cruel shock in an unforeseen and unforeseeable way. Since then, the world appears more vulnerable and volatile, fragmented and fraught with uncertainty. The universal values as bequeathed by the Enlightenment are either refused or appear refuted. The dream of a universal civilization which has accompanied the unfolding of the existing multiple modernities in their historically unique trajectories, has been discarded and its promises in tatters.

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BERNW ARD JOERGES AND HELGA NOWOTNY YET ANOTHER TURN The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that's most interesting. Richard Fcynman This volume was originally conceived as a contribution to yet another 'tum', not cap­ tured by one of the many adjectives that have served to describe the collective meander­ ing of the scholarly community in search of direction, It was meant to mark the millen­ nial turn, a seemingly purely chronological event, but one in search for great meanings and invested with loaded significances. The editors wanted to seize the opportunity of the moment in order to pause and reflect on the sociology and history of social studies of science and technology. The moment came and went and the new millennium, barely nine months later, thrust its historical marker upon the world through a horrendous and cruel shock in an unforeseen and unforeseeable way. Since then, the world appears more vulnerable and volatile, fragmented and fraught with uncertainty. The universal values as bequeathed by the Enlightenment are either refused or appear refuted. The dream of a universal civilization which has accompanied the unfolding of the existing multiple modernities in their historically unique trajectories, has been discarded and its promises in tatters.

Contenu
1: The Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook: A Personal Retrospective.- Un Peu d'Histoire.- The Changing Context of the Yearbook.- I STS and Society.- 2: Sciences, Science Studies and Their Publics: Speculating on Future Relations.- 3: Is That Politics?.- 4: Science and The Postmodern Shift in Contemporary Democracies.- II STS and The Social Sciences.- 5: History of Social Science: Understanding Modernity and Rethinking Social Studies of Science.- 6: The 'Triple Helix' and 'New Production of Knowledge' as Socio-Cognitive Fields.- 7: The Conundrum of Consciousness: Changing Landscapes of Knowledge at the Turn of the Millennium.- 8: In a Constitutional Moment: Science And Social Order at the Millennium.- III STS Emergence of a Field.- 9: Growth, Differentiation, Expansion and Change of Identity the Future of Science.- 10: Institutionalizing Science & Technology Studies in the Academy.- 11: PROLEPSIS: Considerations for Histories of Science After 2000.- 12: Joy in Repetition Makes the Future Disappear: A Critical Assessment of the Present State of STS.- Postscript.- 13: Reflections on the Millennium, Calendars, and the Gregorian Hegemony.- List of Contributors.- Biographical Notes.- Author Index.