Universität Wien

400002 SE How space and place matter in engaging with technoscientific developments (2019W)

Seminar für DissertantInnen: Theorie

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 40 - Doktoratsstudium Sozialwissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 15 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 02.10. 15:00 - 16:00 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Monday 21.10. 15:00 - 18:30 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Monday 18.11. 15:00 - 18:30 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Tuesday 07.01. 15:00 - 18:30 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Monday 13.01. 15:00 - 18:30 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Monday 20.01. 15:00 - 18:30 STS Bibliothek, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/6. Stock, 1010 Wien

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This seminar aims at PhD students in the field of Science and Technology Studies and invites them to critically reflect on the practices of justification, attributing worth and assessment (the latter two summarized by the notion of (e)valuation) with regard to technoscientific developments in society. We will do so by engaging with a set of readings related to the analytical framework of modes of justification developed by Boltanksi and Thévenot (2006) and engage with the plurality of orders of worth visible in different arenas of our research. When it comes to questions of (e)valuation, we will explore parts of the debates in the sociology of evaluation (e.g. Lamont), but also investigate important differences between the “assessment of value” and “production of value”, both expressed through the notion of (e)valuation.
The seminar will elaborate on different ways how to understand and relate to practices of justification and (e)valuation when analysing sociotechnical/scientific developments and link it to the diverse topics of the PhD thesis in STS. The aim is to see and better grasp evaluative dimensions and justifications present in the own research and to reflect what understanding this perspective adds to better grasp the issues at stake.

Assessment and permitted materials

To pass the seminar, participants are expected to complete all of the following tasks:
• Participate in 5 of the 6 classes plus the kick-off session
• Read the distributed texts and participate actively in the discussion (a group of students will be responsible for prepring the discussions on the texts)
• Hand in a paper related to your own PhD thesis and present it (15-20 pages)
• Comment on a colleague’s paper and hand in the main points of your comments (approx. 2 pages), but also send it to the commented colleague, on the day before the presentation.
• At the end of the seminar, write a short reflection piece on how justification and (e)valuation matters to your thesis (approx. 1000 words)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

30% Reading the papers for each unit, participating in the discussion and preparing/moderating one discussion unit
35% Handing in a paper on the own PhD (on time!)
15% Comment on a PhD paper and handing in the comment in a written form
10% Quality of presentation of the paper
10% Final reflection paper looking into the relevance of justification and (e)valuation practices in your research

Examination topics

Reading list

The reader will be available one week before the semester starts.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:22