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Tragedy of the Commons[edit]
see also: Tragedy of the Commons
In 1968, Garrett Hardin coined the phrase "Tragedy of the Commons." It is an economic theory where rational people act against the best interest of the group by consuming a common resource. Since then, the Tragedy of the Commons has been used to symbolize the degradation of the environment whenever many individuals use a common resource. Although Garrett Hardin was not an STS scholar, the concept of Tragedy of the Commons still applies to science, technology and society.[1]
In a contemporary setting, the Internet acts as an example of the tragedy of the commons through the exploitation of digital resources and private information. Data and internet passwords can be stolen much more easily than physical documents. Virtual spying is almost free compared to the costs of physical spying.[2] Additionally, net neutrality can be seen as an example of tragedy of the commons in an STS context. The movement for net neutrality argues that the Internet should not be a resource that
A counterexample to the tragedy of the commons is offered by Andrew Kahrl. Privatization is normally a healthy way to deal with the tragedy of the commons. Kahrl suggests that the privatization of beaches on Long Island, in an attempt to combat overuse of Long Island beaches, made the residents of Long Island more susceptible to flood damage from Hurricane Sandy. The privatization of these beaches took away from the protection offered by the natural landscape. Tidal lands that offer natural protection were drained and developed. This attempt to combat the tragedy of the commons by privatization was counter-productive. Privatization actually destroyed the public good of natural protection from the landscape.[3]
Alternative Modernity[edit]
Modernity[4][5] is a conceptual tool conventionally used to represent the state of present western society. Modernity represents the political and social structures of the society, the sum of interpersonal discourse, and ultimately a snapshot of society's direction at a point in time. Unfortunately conventional modernity is incapable of modeling alternative directions for further growth within our society. Also, this concept is ineffective at analyzing similar but unique modern societies such as those found in the diverse cultures of the developing world. Problems can be summarized into two elements: inward failure to analyze growth potentials of a given society, and outward failure to model different cultures and social structures and predict their growth potentials.
Previously, modernity carried a connotation of the current state of being modern, and its evolution through European colonialism. The process of becoming "modern" is believed to occur in a linear, pre-determined way, and is seen by Philip Brey as a way of to interpret and evaluate social and cultural formations. This thought ties in with the Modernization theory, the thought that societies progress from 'pre-modern' to 'modern' societies.
Within the field of science and technology, there are two main lenses with which to view modernity. The first is as a way for society to quantify what it wants to move towards. In effect, we can discuss the notion of "alternative modernity" (as described by Andrew Feenberg) and which of these we would like to move towards. Alternatively, modernity can be used to analyze the differences in interactions between cultures and individuals. From this perspective, alternative modernities exist simultaneously, based on differing cultural and societal expectations of how a society (or an individual within society) should function. Because of different types of interactions across different cultures, each culture will have a different modernity.
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STS Social Construction[edit]
Social constructions are human created ideas, objects, or events created by a series of choices and interactions.[6] These interactions have consequences that change the perception that different groups of people have on these constructs. Some examples of social construction include class, race, money, and citizenship.
The following also alludes to the notion that not everything is set, a circumstance or result could potentially be one way or the other. According to the What is Social Construction? by Laura Flores, "Social construction work is critical of the status quo. Social constructionists about X tend to hold that:
- X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable
Very often they go further, and urge that:
- X is quite as bad as it is.
- We would be much better off if X were done away with, or at least radically transformed."
In the past, there have been viewpoints that were widely regarded as fact until being called to question due to the introduction of new knowledge. Such viewpoints include the past concept of a correlation between intelligence and the nature of a human's ethnicity or race (X may not be at all as it is).[7]
An example of a social construction within science and technology can be found in the high-wheel bicycle. A high-wheel bicycle is able to reach higher translational velocities than smaller bicylces by replacing the front wheel with a larger radius wheel. One notable trade-off is the decreased stability leading to a greater risk of falling. This trade-off resulted in many riders getting in accidents by losing balance while riding the bicycle or being thrown over the handle bars. Thus, a technological innovation or progress caused some unintended and undesired consequences. The bicycle was altered to fit within society's standards of vehicle safety in response to the social constructions that caused the bicycle to be designed in the first place.[8]
Technoscience[edit]
Technoscience is a subset of Science, Technology, and Society studies that focuses on the inseparable connection between science and technology. It states that fields are linked and grow together, and scientific knowledge requires an infrastructure of technology in order to remain stationary or move forward. Both technological development and scientific discovery drive one another towards more advancement. Technoscience excels at shaping human thought and behavior by opening up new possibilities that gradually or quickly come to be perceived as necessities.[9]
- ^ Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons" (PDF). www.sciencemag.org. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
- ^ Davidow, Bill. "The Tragedy of the Internet Commons". theatlantic.com. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
- ^ Kahn, Matthew E. "Environmental and Urban Economics". Retrieved April 21, 2015.
- ^ Eisenstadt, Shmuel (Winter 2000). "Multiple Modernities". Dædalus.
- ^ Feenberg, Andrew (1995). Alternative Modernity : The Technical Turn in Philosophy and Social Theory. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520089860.
- ^ Woodhouse, Edward (2014). Science Technology and Society (1st ed.). San Diego: University Readers. p. 255.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Hacking, Ian (1999). The Social Construction of What? (1st ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: President and Fellows of Harvard University. p. 6. ISBN 978-0674004122.
- ^ Bijker,, Wiebe (1993). The Social Construction of Technological System (1st ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 28–45. ISBN 0-262-52137-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Steven Lukes, Power: A Radical View (London: Macmillan, 1974)