Topics in Sociological Analysis (376-0-21)
Topic
Sociology of Technology
Instructors
Santiago Molina
Santiago J. Molina (he/they) grew up moving between the United States and central Mexico. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley and his BA from the University of Chicago. Their work sits at the intersections of science and technology studies, political sociology, sociology of racial and ethnic relations, and bioethics. On a theoretical level, Santiago’s work concerns the deeply entangled relationship between the production of knowledge and the production of social order.
Meeting Info
555 Clark B01: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
"Sociology of Technology"
Technology is ubiquitous. This course covers central tenets in the sociology of technology by pairing an empirical focus on a different technology each week with a theoretical paradigm. A total of eight technologies will serve as the exemplars through which the question(s) concerning technology will be explored: bicycles, cars, computers, facial recognition, genetic sequencing, soap, shipping containers and virtual reality. Each of these technologies is approached as a window into the social, political, racial, and economic determinants of technological innovation. The central goal of the course is to equip students with the tools for unpacking the technologies societies take for granted and critically engaging with new technologies that may reproduce social inequities. While much of the scholarship we will consider is broadly sociological, some of it is drawn from other fields, and part of the goal of the course is to show what is gained when we think about technology from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students from other disciplines are welcome.
Learning Objectives
In addition to understanding various sociological theories of technology, students will learn valuable research skills for assessing claims about technology, engineering, and science and their relation to culture, politics, and society.
Class Materials (Required)
All materials for this course will be made available on Canvas - no purchase necessary.