| source MIT (X) |
level |
department Science, Technology, and Society (X) |
STS.001 Technology in American History ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 A survey of America's transition from a rural, agrarian, and artisan society to one of the world's leading industrial powers. Treats the emergence of industrial capitalism: the rise of the factory system; new forms of power, transport, and communication; the advent of the large industrial corporation; the social relations of production; and the hallmarks of science-based industry. Views technology as part of the larger culture and reveals innovation as a process consisting of a range of possibilities that are chosen or rejected according to the social criteria of the time. more information ... M. R. Smith
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.003 The Rise of Modern Science ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: TR2.30-4 ( 56-154 ) The development of major fields in the physical and life sciences, beginning with 18th-century Europe and ending with 20th-century America. Examines ideas, institutions, and the social settings of the sciences, with emphasis on how cultural contexts influence scientific concepts and practices. more information ... D. I. Kaiser, H. R. Shell
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STS.005 Disease and Society in America ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: TR11 ( 4-270 ) Recitation: F11 ( 4-257 ) or F12 ( 4-257 ) or F1 ( 4-257 ) or F11 ( 66-144 ) or F12 ( 66-144 ) or F1 ( 66-144 ) Examines the growing importance of medicine in culture, economics and politics. Uses a historical approach to examine changing patterns of disease, the causes of morbidity and mortality, evolution of medical theory and practice, development of hospitals and the medical profession, the rise of the biomedical research industry, and the ethics of health care in America. more information ... D. Jones
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STS.006J Bioethics ( ) (Same subject as 24.06J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Considers ethical questions that have arisen from the growth of biomedical research and the health-care industry since World War II. Should doctors be allowed to help patients end their lives? If so, when and how? Should embryos be cloned for research and/or reproduction? Should parents be given control over the genetic make-up of their children? What types of living things are appropriate to use as research subjects? How should we distribute scarce and expensive medical resources? Draws on philosophy, history, and anthropology to show how problems in bioethics can be approached from a variety of perspectives. more information ... C. Hare, D. Jones
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.010 Neuroscience and Society ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Explores social relevance of neuroscience, considering how emerging areas of brain research reflect and reshape social attitudes and agendas. Topics include brain imaging and popular media; neuroscience of empathy, trust, and moral reasoning; new fields of neuroeconomics and neuromarketing; ethical implications of neurotechnologies such as cognitive enhancement pharmaceuticals; neuroscience in the courtroom; and neuroscientific recasting of social problems such as addiction and violence. Guest lectures by neuroscientists, class discussion, and weekly readings in neuroscience, popular media, and science studies. more information ... N. Schull
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STS.011 American Science: Ethical Conflicts and Political Choices ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Explores the changing roles, ethical conflicts, and public perceptions of science and scientists in American society from World War II to the present. Studies specific historical episodes focusing on debates between scientists and the contextual factors influencing their opinions and decisions. Topics include the atomic bomb project, environmental controversies, the Challenger disaster, biomedical research, genetic engineering, (mis)use of human subjects, scientific misconduct and whistleblowing. more information ... Staff
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STS.015 Mapping Controversies: Preparing Scientists and Engineers for a More Complex World ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 URL: http://web.mit.edu/controversy Introduction to the complicated universe of scientific and technical research. Account for and map techno-scientific controversies which are rife with uncertainties and dilemmas. Controversies studied include projects of advanced technical expertise as well as projects entangled with legal, moral, economic and social questions. Learn how to describe these contentious arenas and present findings by creating Web sites available to the general public. Some sites may be selected to participate in an international student competition. Enrollment limited to 25. V. Lepinay
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STS.022 Technology in History (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Covers theories of the interactions between historical and technological change; relations between the histories of science and of technology; purported turning points such as the Neolithic, Industrial, and Information Revolutions; case studies from a wide range of times and places; and connections across time and space. Lectures supplemented by student presentations. Frequent writing, rewriting, and small group work. R. H. Williams
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.025 Making the Modern World: The Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR1-2.30 ( 14N-112 ) Global survey of the great transformation in history known as the "Industrial Revolution." Topics include origins of mechanized production, the factory system, steam propulsion, electrification, mass communications, mass production and automation. Emphasis on the transfer of technology and its many adaptations around the world. Countries treated include Great Britain, France, Germany, the US, Sweden, Russia, Japan, China, and India. Includes brief reflection papers and a final paper. M. R. Smith
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.029J The Civil War and Reconstruction ( ) (Same subject as 21H.116J ) (Subject meets with STS.423 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Anti-slavery and the intensification of sectionalism in the 1850s; the secession crisis; political and military developments in the Civil War years; why the North won; and the political, economic, and social legacies of the conflict. M. R. Smith
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.032 Energy, Environment, and Society (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR12-1.30 ( 1-375 ) Examines national and global energy debates, namely energy security, climate change, and energy access. Explores technological, market, environmental, cultural and political "fixes" to the energy question, as well as a wide variety of energy forms and stakeholders. Evaluates development, nuclear security, environment ethics, and conflicts between energy and food security. Includes debates, presentations, group projects (in class and in the Cambridge community), grant-writing, and individual written assignments. C. Mavhunga
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.034 Science Communication: A Practical Guide (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Develops students' abilities to communicate science effectively to non-specialist audiences in a variety of media. Emphasizes the elements of effective speaking and writing and the art of storytelling. Students study examples of science communication in journalism, broadcasting, museums and new media, and develop their skills through classroom exercises, speaking and writing assignments. Students undertake a practical project in science communication through the Cambridge Science Festival, organized by the MIT Museum. J. Durant
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.039 Technology and Imagination ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Explores the meanings of "technology" and "imagination," the ways that technologies stimulate imagination, and the ways that imagination stimulates technological development and use. Draws upon the history of technology and science, literary and cultural theory, and imaginative writing. Readings range from Romantic poets to recent novels. Topics include scientific instrumentation, utopianism, and space travel. Students are encouraged to relate class materials to popular culture, including visual and on-line media. Enrollment limited to 25. R. H. Williams
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.042J Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century ( ) (Same subject as 8.225J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Explores the changing roles of physics and physicists during the 20th century. Topics range from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to high-energy physics and cosmology. Examines the development of modern physics within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts, such as physics in Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, US efforts during World War II, and physicists' roles during the Cold War. Enrollment limited. D. I. Kaiser
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.043 Technology and Self: Science, Technology, and Memoir ( ) (Subject meets with STS.443 ) Prereq: Writing sample Units: 2-0-7 Focuses on the memoir as a window onto the relationship of the scientist, engineer, and technologist to his or her work. Studies the subjective side of technology and the social and psychological dimensions of technological change. Students write about specific objects and their role in their lives - memoir fragments. Readings concern child development theory and the role of technology in development. Explores the connection between material culture, identity, cognitive and emotional development. S. Turkle
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STS.044 Technology and Self: Things and Thinking ( ) (Subject meets with STS.444 ) Prereq: None Units: 2-0-7 Explores emotional and intellectual impact of objects. The growing literature on cognition and "things" cuts across anthropology, history, social theory, literature, sociology, and psychology and is of great relevance to science students. Examines the range of theories, from Mary Douglas in anthropology to D.W. Winnicott in psychoanalytic thinking, that underlies "thing" or "object" analysis. S. Turkle
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STS.045 Technology and Experience ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Introduction to the "inner history" of technology - how it affects intimate aspects of human experience from sociological, psychological and anthropological perspectives. Topics include how the internet transforms our experience of time, space, privacy, and social engagement; how entertainment media affects attention, emotion, and creativity; how medical technologies alter the experience of illness, reproduction, and mortality; how pharmaceuticals reshape identity, mood, pain, and pleasure. In-class discussion of readings, short written assignments, final project. S. Turkle
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STS.046J The Science of Race, Sex, and Gender ( ) (Same subject as SP.640J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Subject Cancelled Examines the role of science and medicine in the origins and evolution of the concepts of race, sex, and gender from the seventeenth century to the present. Focus on how biological, anthropological, and medical concepts intersect with social, cultural, and political ideas about racial, sexual, and gender difference in the U.S. and globally. Approach is historical and comparative across disciplines emphasizing the different modes of explanation and use of evidence in each field. A. Sur
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STS.048 African Americans in Science, Technology, and Medicine ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 A survey of the contributions of African Americans to science, technology, and medicine from colonial times to the present. Explores the impact of concepts, trends, and developments in science, technology, and medicine on the lives of African Americans. Examples include the eugenics movement, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the debate surrounding racial inheritance, and IQ testing. K. Manning
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STS.050 The History of MIT (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Examines the history of MIT through the lens of the broader history of science and technology, and vice versa. Covers pre-history and founding (1861) to the present. Topics include William Barton Rogers; educational philosophy; biographies of MIT students and professors; campus, intellectual and organizational development; the role of science; changing laboratories and practices; and MIT's relationship with Boston, the federal government, and industry. Guest lecturers discuss recent history. Includes short papers, presentations, and final paper. D. Mindell, M. R. Smith
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.051 Finance: Culture, Technologies, and Markets ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Introduction to a rapidly growing literature in new economic sociology, social studies of finance, and an anthropology of markets. The more recent interest for these modalities has cast new light on the role of technologies, theories, and models in the creation of new markets. Review and discussion of these new studies with economics on the question of technologies in markets. Enrollment limited to 25. V. Lepinay
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page
STS.056 Science and the Cinema: Experiments on Film (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 2-1-9 Examines the linked histories of science and cinema starting from 1895. Introduces themes from the fields of STS and media studies. Mandatory weekly screening sessions alternate among feature-length films, series of short films and direct engagement with technologies of filmic production, screening and visual analysis. Some screening materials available for out-of-class viewing. Assignments include short papers, a collaborative media project, midterm and final. Evaluation includes attendance at screenings and participation in collaborative assignments and classroom discussion. Limited to 40. H. R. Shell
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STS.060J The Anthropology of Biology ( ) (Same subject as 21A.355J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Applies the tools of anthropology to examine biology in the age of genomics, biotechnological enterprise, biodiversity conservation, pharmaceutical bioprospecting, and synthetic biology. Examine such social concerns such as bioterrorism, genetic modification, and cloning. Offers an anthropological inquiry into how the substances and explanations of biology — ecological, organismic, cellular, molecular, genetic, informatic — are changing. Examines such artifacts as cell lines, biodiversity databases, and artificial life models, and using primary sources in biology, social studies of the life sciences, and literary and cinematic materials, asks how we might answer Erwin Schrodinger's 1944 question, "What Is Life?", today. S. Helmreich
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STS.062J Drugs, Politics, and Culture ( ) (Same subject as 21A.344J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Examines the relationship between drugs, politics, and society in cross-cultural perspective; use of mind-altering and habit-forming substances by "traditional societies"; the development of a global trade in sugar, opium, and cocaine with the rise of capitalism; and the use and abuse of alcohol, LSD, and Prozac in the US. Finishes by looking at the war on drugs, shifting attitudes to tobacco, and by evaluating America's drug laws. Staff
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STS.064J DV Lab: Documenting Science through Video and New Media (New) ( ) (Same subject as 21A.339J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 Introductory exploration of documentary film theory and production, focusing on documentaries about science, engineering, and related fields. Students engage in digital video production as well as social and media analysis of science documentaries. Readings drawn from social studies of science as well as from documentary film theory. Uses documentary video making as a tool to explore the worlds of science and engineering, as well as a tool for thinking analytically about media itself and the social worlds in which science is embedded. Class includes a lab component devoted to digital video production in addition to class time. Enrollment limited. C. Walley, C. Boebel
Score: 11.927676 Details | Listing | Web page