ANT 261 - Science, Policy, and Society

How do scientific theories and methodologies, religious beliefs and practices, and technological innovations affect the way we perceive the world around us? This course, an introduction to Science, Technology and Society (STS), is designed to be an inquiry into questions that involve the production and cultural meanings of scientific knowledge and technological change. This course will compare the function and rhetoric of scientific “truths” to other modes of truth-production and consider the ways in which science is culturally produced and in turn reproductive of cultural norms in Western society, including the adoption of Western scientific practices and institutions by non-Western societies and the management of science and technology in social and economic practices.

Satisfies a major & minor requirement in Anthropology.
Satisfies a requirement in the Communication Studies interdisciplinary major and minor.
Satisfies the Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies depth and breadth course requirement in the Social Science track of the Environmental Studies major or interdisciplinary minor.