Beth Chopin

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PRESENTERS
Beth Chopin bchopin_at_eden.rutgers.edu Gary
Schmidt schmidtg_at_eden.rutgers.edu
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AUTHOR
David J. Hess B.A. Economics Harvard
University Ph.D. Anthropology Cornell
University Professor Chair Science and Tech.
Studies Dept. Rensselaer Institute Research
focus the anthropology, history, and sociology
of science, technology, and social
movements. Other work science and medicine in
religious movements science, technology, and
health movements and science, technology, and
environmental movements. (source
http//home.earthlink.net/davidhesshomepage/)
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INTRODUCTION
STS Science Technology Studies (a.k.a.
Science, Technology Society Studies). An
evolving fixture on the academic landscape since
the 1970s. STS implies a social constructivist
view of the techno-scientific world (i.e.,
technology and science are socially
created). Science and technology are not only
socially but also culturally constructed. Hess
presents the perspective of cultural relativism
to social constructivist theory under the rubric
of culture and power.
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CENTRAL CONCEPTS
Culture and Power (or Cultural Politics)
Culture The total knowledge and way of life of
a group of people both conscious and
unconscious (p. 10). Power More than a
question of who controls an organization or who
has the ability to make successful orders, power
involves social practices that have differential
effects on individuals and groups (p. 13).
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING
(all maps from the CIA Atlas of Eastern Europe
1990Czechoslovakia)
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TECHNOTOTEMISM
Technototemism The coproduction of technical and
social difference or coherence. The formation of
identity and/or group affiliation is established
according to our adherence to natural and
technological phenomena. consumer culture
operates according to totemic relationships.
Clothing, food, cars, and so on are all
categorized into a myriad of divisions that allow
people to make distinctions among themselves
through their objects (p. 21). What is your
technototem? What factors helped create it?
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TECHNOTOTEISM NATIONAL IDENTITY
Example how scientific style is predicated on a
general cultural style using the founding fathers
of modern science.
Sir Francis Bacon (England) Parliamentary
political authority Protestant (more
progressive) More democratic (common
law) Inductive logic (bottom-up) Observation Emp
irical tendencies Individualistic
Rene Descartes (France) Religious political
authority Catholic Hierarchical Deductive logic
(top-down) First principles Rational/logical
tendencies Holistic
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TECHNOTOTEISM NATIONAL IDENTITY
A failure to investigate more carefully such
differences in the national sciences and social
theories amounts to buying into the ideology of
science as a supranational phenomenon that is
everywhere the same (p. 39).
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TECHNOTOTISM
Evolution and Social Darwinism It is remarkable
that Darwin recognizes among brutes and plants
his English society with its division of labor,
competition, opening up of new markets,
inventions, and Malthusian struggle for
existence.with Darwin the animal kingdom
figures as bourgeois society. -Marx, 1862
The boomerang of Technototemism
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BRICOLAGE
The bricoleur is a jack-of-all-trades who takes
whatever is at handpieces of wood, metal, spare
parts, junkand reassembles them to build new
objects or to fix old ones (p. 39). Hess borrows
the term bricolage from French anthropologist
Claude Levi-Strauss to refer to the practice of
adopting ideas from other communities and
reconstructing them according to ones own social
identity. The concept of the bricoleur is
relevant with regard to how scientific knowledge
is formed within social, cultural, racial, and
gender groups (p. 52).
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TEMPORAL CULTURES among the SCIENCES
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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
The Mythology of the Scientific Revolution
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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
The Mythology of the Scientific Revolution
Popular Heroes Copernicus (1473-1543) the
earth is not fixed and stationary in the center
of the cosmos it rotates on its axis each day
and revolves around the sun each year Tycho
Brahe (1546-1601) - new theoretical modifications
concerning planetary orbits and their motions
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) - new theories of
motion that would accommodate a moving earth
Bacon, Boyle Descartes (15611691)
codification of western science Isaac Newton
(1642-1727) - unites terrestrial and celestial
bodies under one set of universal laws of motion
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SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Western and Non-WesternWhatand whois left out?
Three examples
Prior to the 14th century, many Arabic works on
optics, astronomy, mathematics and medicine were
translated into Latin. Copernicus (1473-1543)
the earth is not fixed and stationary in the
center of the cosmos it rotates on its axis each
day and revolves around the sun each year
(Copernicus work closely parallels prior work
of Arab astronomer, Ibn al-Shatir of
Damascus) Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) - new
theoretical modifications concerning planetary
orbits and their motions Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642) - new theories of motion that would
accommodate a moving earth (Galileo studied
earlier works of Arab scientist Ibn
al-Haytham) Bacon, Boyle Descartes (15611691)
codification of western science Isaac Newton
(1642-1727)
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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Science technology is not only tied to culture
and politics, but also to social behavior. The
following examination social behavior across
cultures further evidences Hess position that
science technology do not transcend national
boundaries and are not supracultural. The
example of social behavior discussed here
pertains to intercultural communication.
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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Context Low context information is conveyed
primarily in the verbal message. High context
information is embedded in the appearance,
setting and social relationship.
low context
high context
Swiss German Scandinavian American French English
Italian Spanish Greek Arab Japanese
Temporal orientation Polychronic
people-oriented who multi-task. Monochronic
schedule-oriented who do one thing at a time.
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CASE STUDIES
The French are snobs! Americans are materialistic
bores! Germans are rude and authoritarian! How
are these perceptions created? To shed some light
on this question, look at the case studies
presented by Raymonde Carroll in Evidences
Invisible. Hall Hall in Hidden Differences.
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CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION OF SCIENCE
Technocentrism Science and technology are viewed
only from the perspective of those experts who
create it. However, Hess argues that once
science and technology are implemented en masse
and used by non-experts, their meaning is
reconstructed. Therefore, in addition to being
socially and culturally constructed, science and
technology can also be understood as being user
constructed. An example in the world of
information systems
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CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION OF SCIENCE
Why do users chose not to interact with certain
information systems? Information system
designers, speak of end-user failure and
think of the problem in terms of a public that
suffers from computer phobia. systems tend to go
unused because built into their programs are the
naïve assumption that their producers have about
how to acquire knowledge, what counts as
knowledge, and how it is used. As a result, the
programmers tend to build their view of knowledge
into their systems at the expense of more
contextualized and socially laden knowledge. (p.
174). User acceptanceor lack thereofis forcing
system producers to re-examine their designand
culture.
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STS LINKS
http//www.ncsu.edu/chass/mds/stslinks.html
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QUESTIONS DISCUSSION
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A DEFINITION OF SCIENCE?

• Is science knowledge about the natural world
  (p.1) as Hess defines it, or is it the natural
  world itself?

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STS MULTICULTURALISM IN THE CURRICULUM

• Is STS an important part of a social sciences
  education?
• Is STS an important part of scientific and
  technical education?
• Should it be?
• Should it be part of the required curricula?

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REFERENCES
Bradley, R. (1996). Review of the book Science
technology in a multicultural world The
cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
Politics and the Life Sciences, 15, 2,
337-338. Carroll, R. (1988). Cultural
misunderstandings the French-American
experience. Chicago University of Chicago
Press. Forsythe, D. (1990). Blaming the user in
medical informatics The cultural nature of
scientific practice. In Eds. Hess, D. Lane, L.
Knowledge and Society Volume 9 The Anthropology
of Science and Technology. Greenwich, CT JAI
Press. Gusterson, H. (1997). Review of the book
Science technology in a multicultural world
The cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
American Ethnologist, 24, 2, 467-468. Hall, A.
R. Hall, M. R. (1987). Hidden Differences.
Garden City, NY Anchor.
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REFERENCES
Heath, D. (1997). Review of the book Science
technology in a multicultural world The
cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
American Anthropologist, 99, 1, 144-146. Hess,
D. J. (1992). Introduction The new ethnography
and the anthropology of science and technology.
In Eds. Layne, L. Rip, A. Knowledge and
Society Volume 9 The Anthropology of Science
and Technology. Greenwich, CT JAI Press. Hess,
D. J. (1995). Science technology in a
multicultural world The cultural politics of
facts and artifacts. New York Columbia
University Press. Hess, D. J. (1995). If you're
thinking of living in STS A guide for the
perplexed. In Eds. Downes, G, Dumit, J,
Traweek, S. Cyborgs and Citadels
Anthropological Interventions on the Borderlands
of Technoscience. Seattle, WA University of
Washington Press.
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REFERENCES
Hess, D. J. (1998). If you're thinking of living
in STS A guide for the perplexed. In Eds.
Downes, G Dumit, J. Cyborgs and Citadels
Anthropological Interventions in Emerging
Sciences and Technologies. Santa Fe, MN SAR
Press. Inkster, I. (1996). Review of the book
Science technology in a multicultural world
The cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
ISIS.87, 3, 527-528. Jesser, N. (2002). Blood,
genes and gender in Octavia Butler's Kindred and
Dawn. Extrapolation. 43, 1, 36. Kent State
University Press. Loevinger, L. (1994). Review
of the book Science in the new age The
paranormal, its defenders and debunkers, and
American culture. Skeptical Inquirer. 18, 4,
413.
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REFERENCES
McClenon, J. (1994). Review of the book Science
in the new age The paranormal, its defenders
and debunkers, and American culture. The
Journal of Parapsychology. 58, 2. 218. Taylor,
P. (1996). Review of the book Science
technology in a multicultural world The
cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
Science Technology and Human Values.21, 3,
358-362. Voges, H. (1997). Review of the book
Science technology in a multicultural world
The cultural politics of facts and artifacts.
Anthropos, 92, 1-3, 257-259. Wildermuth, M.
(1999). The edge of chaos structural conspiracy
and epistemology in the X-Files. Journal of
Popular Film and Television. 26, 4, 146.