After successful completion of the course, students are able to...
... discuss the foundational sociological/philosophical terms and interpretation for/of the relations between technology and society. Following the discipline’s history of thought, the students can differentiate between the various approaches and identify similarities and critical differences. Along the examples of historical and modern technologies, the students can discuss the role of technology in topics such as concepts of nature, definitions of the human, the constitution of society, art and culture, body and gender, work and labor, city and urbanity as well as progress and societal change. Furthermore, the students are able to transfer these perspectives on the topics of spatial planning and make use of them in professional practice. Through the intensive examination of original texts and the continues keeping of a reading journal, the students will lastly have developed a routine in the systematic reading of academic literature.
The seminar starts with an introductory overview on the history of sociological and philosophical perspectives on technology (U 01). The following units organised in two blocks: 1. “Philosophical and Sociological Foundations” (U 02-06) and 2. “Contemporary Topics in the Social Study of Technology” (U 07-11). The seminar closes with a wrap-up discussion on the previous topics and an exploratory transfer to current and future issues in spatial planning.
• Every session follows a topic and a specific thematic question. The questions will also serve as reading guides. • Prior to each session, the participants have to hand in a reading grid for the respective session’s literature. The overall reading demand ranges between 30-50 pages per week. • The first two sessions will provide a thematic introduction and will serve to discuss organizational issues (such as formation of working groups of 2-3 participants). • For every following session, one of the working groups will present a short supplementary input (max. 10 min). • In the sessions we will clarify terms and understanding issues, discuss the example and the guiding questions. Furthermore, we will try to transfer the respective session to previous ones.