Institutionalizing Science & Technology Studies in the Academy

Abstract

In many ways, science and technology studies (STS) seems poised to become one of the most dynamic and influential areas of social scientific and humanistic inquiry during the twenty-first century. The intellectual sophistication and empirical strength of much work in the field is impressive, and its subject matter is of undeniable importance. The field is providing rigorous interpretations of the place of science and technology (S&T) in social orders; it is exerting growing intellectual influence in the academic world and in public affairs; and it is illuminating some of the fundamental issues of our technological age. But at the same time, the intellectual strength of STS is not matched by a corresponding institutional robustness. One can therefore confidently predict that the field will fail to realize its potential unless it takes steps to consolidate its position in the academy, to become more fully institutionalized, and to expand.