Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
The word society may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural,
scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.
LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
GERHARD LENSKI (1924 – 2015)
SCIENCE is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a
systematic methodology based on evidence. – He is an American sociologist known for contributions to the sociology of religion, social inequality, and ecological
evolutionary social theory.
Science involves more than the gaining of knowledge. It is the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural world
and its phenomena. Science is about gaining a deeper and often useful understanding of the world. LENSKI defined societies in terms of their TECHNOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION
Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world Societies with limited or basic technology are at the mercy of the fluctuations of the environment while industrialized
in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A societies tend to have more control over the impact of their surroundings thus developing different cultural features.
primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists
between and amongst the various facts. Sociocultural change is of two types:
(1) Innovation - involves adding new elements such as technologies, social practices, institutions, or beliefs to the
system, and,
TECHNOLOGY
(2) Extinction - the elimination of old elements in the system.
Teknologia – tekhne (Greek ‘art, craft, skill’) -logia (Greek)
tekhnologia (Greek ‘ Systematic Treatment’) – logy
technology
TYPES OF SOCIETIES:
Technology can be defined in five ways: [Link] GATHERER – Most dependent on the environment.
[Link] rational process of creating means to order and transform matter, energy, and information to realize certain 2. PASTORAL – Rely on domestication of animals.
valued ends.
[Link] – People grow and cultivate plants.
2. The set of means (tools, devices, systems, methods, procedures) created by the technological process.
[Link] – Explosion of new technology for farming.
3. The knowledge that makes the technological process possible. It consists of the facts and procedures necessary to
order and manipulate matter, energy, and information, as well as how to discover new means for such transformations. 5. FEUDAL – Societies contained strict hierarchical power.
4. A subset of related technological objects and knowledge. 6. INDUSTRIAL – Rise in technological invention.
5. The system consisting of the technological process, technological objects, technological knowledge, developers of [Link] – Production of information and services.
technological objects, users of technological objects, and the worldview that has emerged from and drives the
technological process. This is referred to as the technological system.
1) STS is the interplay between science, technology, and society. It focuses on how each one element affects all the
SOCIETY
other elements.
A society is a group of people involved with each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing
2) It is essential for each one to have a holistic understanding of how science molds and impacts the society.
the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural
expectations. 3) Policies that lack evidence may cost and do more damage than benefits.
It may be illustrated as an economic, social, or industrial infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. STS is a field interested in the nature of science and its place in the society.
