LangeMemo10

1. New Political Sociology of Science The new political sociology of science is an emerging theoretical framework in STS which seeks, in Kleinman’s words to bring “classical sociological problems of economic and political power and social inequality” back into science and technology studies. It stands opposed to micro-social, agency focused approaches in the field such as ANT and the social worlds framework. I intend to draw on NPSS concepts like “asymmetric convergence” which have been developed to understand the emerging relationship between science and political economy in the neoliberal era. The emergent character of the NPSS means that there is a great deal more theorizing to do, which is how I hope to contribute to it.

Frickel, S. (2004). //Chemical Consequences: Environmental Mutagens, Scientist Activism, and the Rise of Genetic Toxicology//. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Hess, D. (2004). Medical modernisation, scientific research fields and the epistemic politics of health social movements. Hess, D. (2007). //Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation, and the Environment in an Era of Globalization//. Cambridge: MIT Press. Kleinman, D. (2003). //Impure Cultures:// University Biology and the World of Commerce. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Kleinman, D.L. and A. Kinchy. (2003). Organizing Credibility: Discursive and Organizational Orthodoxy on the Borders of Ecology and Politics. //Social Studies of Science//, 33(6): 869-896. Kleinman, Daniel, and Vallas, Steven. (2001). Science, Capitalism, and the Rise of the ‘Knowledge worker’: The Changing Structure of Knowledge Production in the United States. //Theory and Society,// 30: 451-492. Martin, B. (1998). Brian Martin. Strategies for Alternative Science. In, S. Frickel and K. Moore (eds.), //The New Political Sociology of Science,// 272-298. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Moore, Kelly. (2006.) “Powered by the People: Scientific Authority in Participatory Science.” In, S. Frickel and K. Moore (eds.), //The New Political Sociology of Science,// 299-350. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Smith-Doerr, L. (2004). Flexibility and Fairness: Effects of the Network Form of Organization on Gender Equity in Life Sciences Careers. //Sociological Perspectives// 47(1): 25-54. Wolf, S. Commerical Restructuring of Collective Resources in Agrofood Systems of Innovation. In, S. Frickel and K. Moore (eds.), //The New Political Sociology of Science,// 91-121. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

2. Bourdieu’s Field Theory Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of fields and symbolic capital has been highly influential in sociology, but has made little impact on STS to date. It presents a grand theoretical framework for understanding cultural production as occurring on historically and social situated, semi-autonomous fields which are constituted and structured by symbolic power and where players seek to legitimate and accumulate symbolic capital. I draw on this framework for its ability to understand how structural and functional homologies between economic and symbolic power are constructed and defended. I hope to enrich the literature by bringing materiality into a theory which has, to date, been rather muddled in its handling of that phenomenon.

Albert, M. (2003). Universities and the Market Economy: The Differential Impact on Knowledge Production in Sociology and Economics. Higher Education, 45: 147-182. Bourdieu, P. (1975). “The Specificity of the Scientific Field and the Social Conditions of the Progress of Reason” in M. Biagioli (ed.) The Science Studies Reader. New York: Routledge Bourdieu, P. (1984). //Distinction: a Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste//. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Bourdieu, P. (2002). //Science of Science and Reflexivity//. Boston: Polity Press. Calhoun C. (1993). “Habitus, Field and Capital”: The Question of Historical Specificity.” in Calhoun, LiPuma, and Postone (eds.), //Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives//. Cauldry, N. (2003). Media Meta-Capital: Extending the Range of Bourdieu's Field Theory. Theory and Society, 32(5): p86-105. Hallett, T. (2003). Symbolic power and organizational culture. //Sociological Theory//, 21: 128–149. David Swartz. (1997). //Culture & Power. The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu//. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Wacquant, L. (2004). Following Pierre Bourdieu into the Field. //Ethnography//, 5(4): 387-414. Wacquant, L. (2006). //Body and Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer//. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

3. STS of water Until a year ago, there had been only a handful of articles published in STS on the subject of water. In 2008, Technology and culture published a special issue on water related technology which forms the outline of an STS of water to which I’d like to contribute. I’ll draw on this literature’s understanding of the relationship between ideology and water, as well as the importance of the relationship between hydrology and civil engineering. I hope to contribute better empirical research on hydrology, which has not yet been seriously addressed in the burgeoning literature. I also hope to contribute an understanding of the relationship between political economic factors and water sciences and technologies.

Alatout, S. (2000). Water Balances in Palestine, Regional Cooperation, and the Politics of Numbers. In D. Brooks and O. Mehmet (eds.), //Water Balances in the Eastern Mediterranean//. Ottawa: IDRC Books. Alatout, S. (2008). Locating the fragments of the state and their limits: water policymaking in Israel during the 1950s. //Journal of Israel Studies Forum//, 23: 40-65. Briggs, D. (2008). Breaking from the Colonial Mold: Water Engineering and the Failure of Nation-Building in the Plain of Reeds, Vietnam. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 599-623. Dinçkal, N. (2008). Reluctant Modernization: The Cultural Dynamics of Water Supply in Istanbul, 1885-1950. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 675-700 Dobraszczyk, P. (2008). Image and Audience: Contractual Representation and London’s Main Drainage System. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 568-598. Hoag, H.J. and M. Öhman. (2008) Turning Water into Power: Debates over the Development of Tanzania’s Rufiji River Basin, 1945-1985. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 624-651. Jørgensen, D. (2008). Cooperative Sanitation: Managing Streets and Gutters in Late Medieval England and Scandinavia. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 547-567. Liel, A.B. and D.P. Billington. (2008). Engineering Innovation at Bonneville Dam. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 727-751. van Oosterhout, D. (2008). From Colonial to Postcolonial Irrigation Technology: Technological Romanticism and the Revival of Colonial Water Tanks in Java, Indonesia. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 701-726 Reuss, M. (2008). Seeing Like an Engineer: Water Projects and the Mediation of the Incommensurable. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 531-546 Shah, E. (2008). Telling Otherwise: A Historical Anthropology of Tank Irrigation Technology in South India. //Technology and Culture//, 49(3): 652-674.