Note STS

1.1 Overview of Society and Culture

Humans, as do some animals, belong to specific groups in society. Individuals belong to a family,
neighborhood, school, church, peer groups, work groups, among others. In general, the term society
refers to an autonomous group of people interacting with others in a distinct geographic territory
and sharing a common culture. Different groups to which individuals belong are part of society. The
ways in which people in specific societies are expected and are taught to behave largely depends on
culture.

Cultures are diverse and thus vary across different places. How children are nurtured in one culture
may not be the same in another culture. Child rearing practices vary across cultures. Types of
families, how people marry, what people believe in, the rituals and practices associated with beliefs,
what people wear, the types of food, language, symbols, among others vary across cultures.

There are a number of factors contributing to such diversity including the physical environment and
how people manage to utilize what is found in their immediate environment in order to respond to
their needs. These processes of harnessing resources in order to respond to society’s needs are
collectively referred to as technology. The knowledge utilized to harness such resources is referred
to as science. These processes and knowledges also vary across cultures as they are exposed to
different natural and social contexts. Thus, the material aspect of culture are those objects produced
as a result of technology. But how these were produced and what are the processes and functions
involved in these processes form part of the non-material aspect of culture, which also includes the
knowledge utilized to create the technology which created the objects or artifacts utilized by people
in society.

1.2 Science in Society

The term science refers to the body of knowledge utilized to understand the world. Generally, the
term science is used to refer to understanding natural phenomena including the world of plants and
animals, geological formations, how life began, composition of substances, among others. These are
the foci of the natural sciences such as biology, physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and others.

However, as society became more complex, rational thinkers began to scrutinize society itself trying
to understand its various processes and components. Early social thinkers utilized the methods of
the natural sciences to understand the social world. These sciences are now known as the social
sciences including sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and others.

Science has been instrumental in the development of technologies. Even during pre-historic times,
the knowledge of early humans has been utilized to harness available resources in the environment.
 Fire, for example, is a product of the knowledge of early humans utilized to produce something that
could respond to their needs. In recent times, science has been utilized to develop more advanced
technologies to make life more convenient. A lot of electronic gadgets now flood contemporary
human societies. These shall be discussed in more detail in the succeeding chapters.

By the term “science” we do not only mean the formal natural and social sciences, but also the
knowledges of specific cultures regarding natural and social phenomena. How different cultures
make sense of their world and how they act accordingly to achieve desirable outcomes are likewise
encompassed in this broad definition of science.

1.3 Technology as Component of Culture

In sociology and anthropology, technology is considered as a component of culture. Technology

includes the various processes which a group of people use to harness the environment to produce
objects and systems that could be utilized to respond to human needs in society. The objects
produced by technology are referred to as artifacts or material culture.

With this definition, technology is not confined to the so-called modern technology involving
machines and computers. The stone tool technology of early humans is also “technology”. Even the
use of plants for healing purposes by indigenous peoples is also a technology based on local
knowledge. The early inventions are also technologies that have produced a number of artifacts and
entire systems of harnessing natural resources. Irrigation systems have been developed to utilize
water from rivers to provide water for crops. It has been observed by some theorists that most of
the early civilizations developed along river banks.

In a sociological and anthropological sense, technology is one aspect of culture from the distant past
until the present, based on the existing knowledge systems, now referred to as “science”, of specific
societies. As an aspect of culture, it is related to other aspects including economic systems, political
systems, and even belief systems. The succeeding chapters will utilize this perspective in looking at
science and technology in society.

1.4 Linking Science, Technology and Society

In general, sociology provides various theoretical perspectives to the analysis of society and culture.
The major perspectives are symbolic interactionism, structural functionalism and conflict.

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the social interactions among individuals in society using symbols.
Such symbols have meanings for people in society based on their respective cultures. For example,
a piece of wood is just a piece of wood, but if two pieces of wood are intersected with each other
forming a cross, the meaning of this symbol for Christians is their belief in Jesus Christ. For non-
Christians, it remains as a piece of wood which for them means nothing but firewood maybe.

Structural functionalists view society from a more macro-level perspective as it focuses on the
interconnection between systems in society which have functions that maintain the functioning of
the whole society. One social institution affects all other institutions, thus if there is a dysfunction in
one aspect, the entire system is affected. For example if the economy is in crisis, it affects the political
institution, education and all other social institutions. Just like a car engine, if there is one part that
is not functional, it cannot function as a whole.

Similarly, the conflict perspective views society from a macro-level perspective but instead of
focusing on functions, it focuses on unequal relationships among groups or categories of people to
explain what is happening in society. For example, it views poverty as a result of exploitation of the
lower class (workers) by the powerful class (capitalists). These sociological perspectives shall be
utilized in analyzing science and technology in society.

Specific views on the relationship between science and technology with society and culture have
emerged – Technological Somnambulism, Technological Determinism, and the Social Construction of
Technology. Although all these look at the relationship between technology and society, they have
different views of this relationship.

The first view, although we shall not utilize this in our discussion and analysis, is called Technological
Somnambulism which, as explained by Langdon Winner, a political scientist, denies the various ways
by which technology provides structure and meaning for human life. This perspective contends that
human relationship to technology consists of merely “making” and “using” technology. In this view,
technology is considered neutral in the moral and ethical sense – neither is technology good nor bad.
In other words. Technology’s impact on society depends on how it is utilized. Generally, this view
ignores how technology can shape social structure; and how social structure shapes technology.
Thus, technologies are seen to operate beyond the control of humans and seem to be results of
automatic, unavoidable processes. This is in contrast to the two other perspectives discussed in the
succeeding paragraphs.

Technological Determinism generally contends that a society’s technology largely determines its
social structure and culture. The term “technological determinism” was coined by Thorstein Veblen,
an American sociologist and economist. Technology is viewed as the main determinant of a society’s
history and the driving force of its culture. This view posits that the introduction of newer
technologies leads to changes in society and culture which may lead to the loss of existing knowledge
and technologies as well. For example, the mechanization of agriculture has led to the loss of
traditional farming methods. The same is true with communication technologies. People nowadays
communicate through the internet by sending emails and no longer through handwritten letters sent
via the post office. Over the course of human history, there are a number of examples that could be
cited, such as the invention of irrigation systems, the wheel and gunpowder. For every new discovery
or invention, there is a corresponding transition or change in society. The discovery of steam power,
for example, led to the development of industrial society; while the invention of computers ushered
in the information age in contemporary societies. This shall be discussed in more detail in the next
chapters.

The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) perspective arose as a contrasting view to technological
determinism introduced by Wiebe Bijker and Trevor Pinch in 1984. It emphasizes the importance of
social context in the development of new technologies viewed as a product of social processes
involving several social groups. SCOT argues that technological innovation is a complex process
wherein both technology and society negotiate the meaning of new technologies; then make changes
to technology through resistance; and lastly construct social and technological frameworks, actions
and practices. For example, the social context of science and technology in third world countries like
the Philippines is different from that of first world countries like the United States and Japan. Thus,
the development of new technologies in first world countries is more rapid compared to those in the
third world. There are differences in terms of government support, financial support, and
educational system in these countries. On the other hand, specific situations in different societies
also lead to the development of different types of technologies that are appropriate to the given
context.

In this book, students shall exercise critical thinking skills using the various perspectives in linking
science and technology with society and culture. The next chapter shall look at science and
technology in our everyday lives, including the physical environment, food, household utilities, simple
machines, communication, information and transportation.