STS
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
MIT students: Please also refer to the MIT Subject Listing and Schedule for Fall 2008 class descriptions, times and locations.
**HASS-D & CI-H Classes**
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STS.001: Technology in American History [HASS-D/5] [CI-H] Spring 2009
A survey of America 's transition from a rural, agrarian, and artisan society to one of the world's leading industrial powers. Topics include rise of the factory system; new forms of power, transport, and communication; advent of the large industrial corporation; social relations of production; and the hallmarks of science-based industry.
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STS.002: Toward the Scientific Revolution [HASS-D/5] [CI-H] Fall 2008
Study scientific concepts in light of their cultural and historical contexts. Topics include the emergence of Western science, the systematization of natural knowledge in the ancient world, the transmission of the classical legacy to the Latin West, and the revolt from classical thought during the scientific revolution.
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STS.003: The Rise of Modern Science [HASS-D/5] Spring 2009
The development of major fields in the physical and life sciences, from 18 th century Europe to the present. Examine ideas, institutions, and social settings of the sciences, with emphasis on how cultural contexts influence scientific concepts and practices.
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STS.005: Disease and Society in America [HASS-D/5] [CI-H] Fall 2008
Examine the growing importance of medicine in culture, economics, and politics. Topics include patterns of disease, causes of morbidity and mortality, evolution of medical theory and practice, development of hospitals and the medical profession, rise of biomedical research industry, ethics of health care.
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STS.006j: Bioethics [HASS-D/2] [CI-H] Spring 2009
Should doctors be allowed to help patients end their lives? 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?
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STS.010: Neuroscience and Society [HASS-D/4] [CI-H] Fall 2008
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.
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STS.011: American Science: Ethical Conflicts and Political Choices [HASS-D/2] Fall 2008
This subject examines ethical and political conflicts in American science across a number of disciplines and historical contexts. It explores the ethics and political consequences of nuclear weapons work, controversies over the use of human subjects in medical and social science research, the emergence of public interest science groups, and the experiences of scientific whistleblowers in corporations and government laboratories. It also examines recent controversies over alleged scientific fraud, asking to what extent the scientific community is capable of regulating its own behavior.
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STS.036: Technology and Nature in American History [CI-H] Not offered AY09
Considers how the visual and material world of "nature" has been reshaped by industrial practices, ideologies, and institutions, particularly in 19th and 20th century America. Topics include land-use patterns; the changing shape of cities and farms; the redesign of water systems; the construction of roads, dams, bridges, irrigation systems; the creation of national parks; ideas about wilderness; and the role of nature in an industrial world.
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STS.042j: Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century [CI-M] Spring 2009
The changing ideas within modern physics are situated within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts.
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STS.046j: The Science of Race, Sex, and Gender [CI-H] Fall 2008
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.
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STS.082j: Science, Technology, and Public Policy [CI-H] Not offered AY09
Analysis of issues at the intersection of science, technology, public policy, and business. Cases drawn from antitrust and intellectual property rights; health and environmental policy; defense procurement and strategy; strategic trade and industrial policy; and R&D funding. Structured around theories of political economy, modified to take account of integration of uncertain technical information into public and private decision-making. Enrollment limited to 18.