[CITASA] Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?

[David Touve]

I would think that "the sociology of technology" (not-so-simply put)  
would be:

Empirically and/or conceptually rigorous attempts to understand and/or  
explain both technology and human, social interaction and/or  
structure, as these tools, techniques and/or underlying  
transformations that comprise technology(ies) relate to the various  
manifestations of human, social interaction and/or structure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Touve
PhD Candidate, Management & Organization Studies
Vanderbilt University : Owen Graduate School of Management
david.touve at vanderbilt.edu
Office: 	+1 (615) 866-1286
http://www.davidtouve.com

On Feb 2, 2009, at 11:28 AM, Andrea Tapia wrote:

> Hello CITASA folks.
>
> As many of you know, I work in an I-school (Information school) and  
> am the
> only sociologist on the faculty.
>
> Recently I have been asked to define the "sociology of technology/ 
> ies" This
> has been a surprisingly difficult task.
> What I have been doing is staking out boundaries, stating what it is  
> not,
> therefore, what I'll have left is what it is, right?
>
> So far I have removed the following, Sociology of Technology/ies may  
> overlap
> with--but is NOT science and technology studies, not the sociology of
> science, not the sociology of knowledge, not the sociology of
> communications, not social informatics, not a bunch of theories like
> Structuration/Actor Network/SCOT/SST/Institutionalism/network  
> science etc.
>
> So, I ask you, what is left? What do we do that is unique? What are  
> our core
> competencies?
>
> I've found a couple readings that have helped a bit, but I am hoping  
> some of
> you can aid me in my quest.
>
>
> 1.     Shields, Mark A. 1997. “Reinventing Technology in Social  
> Theory.”
> pages 187-216. Is a book chapter in...Current Perspectives in Social  
> Theory:
> 1997 By Jennifer M. Lehmann, Ben Agger Published by Emerald Group  
> Pub Ltd,
> 1997
>
>
> 2.    Saskia Sassen “Towards a Sociology of Information Technology,”  
> Current
> Sociology, May 2002, Vol. 50(3): 365–388 SAGE Publications
>
>
>
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