CMNS 815-5
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Dr. Ellen Balka |
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Office: CC 6228 Tel. 291-3764 E-mail: ebalka@sfu.ca |
Office Hours: Tuesday 11:30-12:30 Wed. 1:00-2:20 and 4:30-5:00. |
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
This course will focus on how we think about communication and information technologies, and how our views of technology influence our understanding of social issues related to technological change, and the formulation of policy options designed to address social issues. Assigned readings will cover historical writings about technology and society (e.g., Ellul), Canadian contributions to technology and society debates (e.g., Grant, Innis and Franklin), and contemporary theoretical frameworks for understanding technology and society issues (e.g., actor-network theory, feminist contributions to debates about technology and society). Throughout the term the related themes of power, agency and equity will be discussed in relation to the development and management of communication technologies.
At the beginning of the semester, students will be asked to select a technology or technological problem that they will focus on throughout the semester. A number of different views about technology in general and communication technology in particular will be presented and discussed in class. Students will be asked to explore the strengths and limitations of each theoretical perspective discussed in class, in relation to the technology or problem they have chosen. In addition, students will be asked to consider the relationship between our theoretical understandings of technology and the policies we develop to govern technologies.
Required texts:
Street, J. (1992). Politics and technology. Guilford: New York.
Franklin, U. (1999). The real world of technology. CBC: Toronto. (Revised Edition)
Goyner, J. (1997). Technology + society: A Canadian perspective. Broadview: Peterborough.
Additional articles, available for photocopying, will also be required.
Assignments:
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Seminar presentation and accompanying written work (it is anticipated that each student will present in class twice during the term). |
40% |
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Final paper |
40% |
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Class participation: |
20% |
Seminar presentation and accompanying written work:
Twice during the semester, each student will be required to present assigned readings to the class, and submit a short written critique of the assigned readings. The written critique will consist of:
In addition, written material accompanying a seminar presentation should address how the theoretical perspective is relevant to the student's area of interest, as well as the implications for policy or technology practice. Seminar presentations will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester, and accompanying work is due the day a student presents his or her material in class.
Final paper:
In the final paper, students will be required to address the material presented in class in relation to the technology they have focused on throughout the semester. The final paper should begin with an introduction that includes a synopsis of the technology or technological problem of interest to the student. The paper should include a discussion of the perspectives discussed in class, and how they are relevant or not relevant to the student's area of interest. This section should include a discussion of how our understanding of technology varies with the theoretical approaches we adapt in thinking about technology (e.g., what problems are made central by each approach? What issues are relegated to the realm of marginal concerns for each approach?). Each paper should also include a discussion of policy and practice issues related to a variety of theoretical perspectives.
Class Participation:
Students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss the readings in relation to their area of interest. In addition, students will be asked from time to time to comment on the relevance of various perspectives to their classmates' areas of interest.
Weekly Outline
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Week 1 Sept. 7 |
Overview of the course |
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Week 2 Sept. 13 |
Theories of technology and society: Overview and orientation to technology and society studies |
Bush, C.G. (1983). Women and the assessment of technology: To Think, to be; to unthink, to free. In J. Rothschild, (Ed.), Machina ex dea: Feminist perspectives on technology, (pp. 150-171). New York: Pergamon. LaFollette, M.C. and Stine, J.K. (1991). Contemplating choice: historical perspectives on innovation and application of technology. In M.C. LaFollette and J.K. Stine (Eds.). Technology and choice: A Technology and Culture Reader. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press. (p. 1-20). MacKenzie, D. and Wajcman, J. (1985). Introductory essay: The social shaping of technology. In D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman (Eds.). The social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open U. Press. (p. 2-25). Winnner, L. (1985). Do artifacts have politics? In D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman (Eds.). The social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open U. Press. (p. 26-38). |
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Week 3 Sept. 20 |
Theories of technology and society continued: |
Street, chapters 1 and 2 (45 pages) Goyder, preface and chapter 1 (26 pages) Berg, A.J. and Lie, M. (1995). Feminism and constructivism: Do artifacts have gender? Senter for Knvinneforskning, Universitetet I Trondheim-AVH. |
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Week 4 Sept. 27 |
Science, technology and the state and technological innovation and diffusion |
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Street, chapters 3 &4 (46 pages) Goyner, chapters 2,3 &4 (53 pages) |
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Week 5 Oct. 4 |
Effects of technological change and labour and class critiques of technology |
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Goyder, chapters 5 & 6 (43 pages) Street chapters 5 & 6 (44 pages) Marx, K. (1985). The machine versus the worker. In D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman (Eds.). The social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open U. Press. (p. 79-80). Braverman, H. (1985). Technology and capitalist control. In D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman (Eds.). The social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open U. Press. (p. 81-83). Cockburn, C. (1985). The material of male power. In D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman (Eds.). The social shaping of technology. Milton Keynes: Open U. Press, p. 125-146. |
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Week 6 Oct. 11 |
No class- THANKSGIVING |
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Week 7 Oct. 18 |
McLuhan, E. and Zingrove, F. (eds.). Essential McLuhan. Concord, Ont.: Anansi. p.149-188. Goyder, chapters 7 & 8 (44 pages) McLuhan, M. (1994). Introduction (p. 3-?). Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York: McGraw Hill. |
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Week 8 Oct. 26 |
Introduction to social constructivism and actor network theory |
Pinch, T. and Bijker, W.E. (1989). The social construction of facts and artifacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. In W.E. Bijker, T.P. Hughes and T. Pinch (Eds.). The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology. Cambridge: MIT Press. (p. 17-50). Callon, M. (1985). Society in the making: The study of technology as a tool for sociological analysis. In W.E. Bijker, T.P. Hughes and T. Pinch (Eds.). The social construction of technological systems: New directions in the sociology and history of technology. Cambridge: MIT Press. (p. 83-103). Johnson, J. (1995). Mixing humans and non-humans together: The sociology of a door closer. In S.L. Star, (Ed.). Ecologies of knowledge: Work and practices in science and technology. Albany: SUNY Press. |
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Week 9 Nov. 1 |
Critiques of Actor - Network Theory |
Law, J. (1999). After ANT: Complexity, naming and topology. In J. Law and J. Hassard (Eds.). Actor network theory and after. Oxford: Blackwell. (p. 1-14). Latour, B. (1999). On recalling ANT. In J. Law and J. Hassard (Eds.). Actor network theory and after. Oxford: Blackwell. (p. 15-25). Callon, M. (1999). Actor-network theory- the market test. In J. Law and J. Hassard (Eds.). Actor network theory and after. Oxford: Blackwell. (p. 181-195). Callon, M. and Latour, B. (1981). Unscrewing the big Leviathan: How do actors macro-structure reality? In K. Knorr and A. Cicourel (Eds.). Advances in social theory and methodology: Toward an integration of micro and macro sociologies. London: Routledge. (p. 277-303). |
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Week 10 Nov. 8 |
The real world of technology, Part 1 |
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Franklin, p.vii-89 (beginning through chapter 4). |
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Week 11 Nov. 15 |
The real world of technology, part 2 |
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Franklin, chapters 5-Coda. |
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Week 12 Nov. 22 |
Political economy of technology |
Mosco, V. (1996). What is political economy. The political economy of communication. (p. 22-69). Sage: Newbury Park Ca. |
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Week 13 Nov. 29 |
The search for democratic alternatives, part 1 |
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Street, chapters 7-9 (49 pages). Goyder, chapters 10-11 (25 pages). Sclove, R. (1995). No man is sacrificed to the wants of another: Democratic work. In R.E. Sclove, Democracy and technology. New York: Guilford (p. 83-99). |
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Week 14 Dec. 6 |
Wrap-up and future directions |