• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.201-234
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• 2001

Sociology(or social science in general) is often diagnosed as in the state of 'crisis' after the collapse of socialism and the erosion of national societies because of rapid globalization. This paper introduces some recent work within science and technology studies(STS) and discusses its potentials to reinvigorate sociology. Although sociologists have rarely regarded STS as contributing to 'mainstream' issues in sociology, an increasing number of STS writers and sociologists have recently started to notice such possibilities. One main reason of this recent change is that STS is no longer merely concerned to convey substantive findings about science and technology, but instead attempts to reconstruct key notions of sociology such as 'social', 'society' and 'agency'. It is in this respect that the discussion below aims to introduce, discuss, and assess the potential contribution of some recent work of STS to sociology. In particular, it is 'actor-network theory'(ANT) that explicitly attempts to examine and suggest the ways in which STS ran help innovate sociology. One major characteristics of ANT is to impute 'agency' to things(nonhumans) unlike traditional sociology. ANT argues that if sociology studies heterogeneous relationships between humans and nonhumans instead of human relations only, it can become once again a vigorous discipline which is able to provide alternative worlds central to the basis of sociology. So this paper focuses on, not the diverse approaches of STS, the characteristics of ANT and its potential contribution to sociology. The author concludes that ANT can not only rejuvenate sociology by implicating new forms of alternative worlds but also open the possibility to contribute to the democratic reformulation of human-nonhuman relationships.

• 한국과학기술학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.12a
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• pp.19-55
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• 2007

• 한국과학기술학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.12a
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• pp.59-75
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• 2007

• The Science & Technology
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• v.17 no.10 s.185
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• pp.34-37
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• 1984

• The Science & Technology
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• no.10 s.461
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• pp.88-89
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• 2007

• The Science & Technology
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• v.12 no.6 s.121
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• pp.27-32
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• 1979

산업사회를 구성하고 발전 변화시키는 가장 중요한 힘은 과학과 지식이다. 그러므로 과학지식의 구조와 그림자는 현대사회의 구조와 과제에 그대로 반영된다. 한국과학저술인협회는 6월 18일 성균관대학에서 「과학과 사회」심포지움을 갖고 현대과학의 방법론적 특징등을 분석, 현대사회와 현대인이 처한 상황 진단을 모색했다. 이날 심포지움에서는 김경동교수(서울대 사회학과)의「기술과 사회변동」 및 노재식 박사(원자력연구소 환경부장)의 「국가발전과 환경보전」등 논문이 발표되었는데 다음은 그 요지이다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.129-149
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• 1996

From the outset Library and Information Science as a field of discipline began as part of the social sciences (or applied social sciences) in the 1930s. However, due to the practicality and technology emphasized by functionalists, the social science characteristics deteriorated and the science and technological aspect became more accentuated. Ultimately, Library and Information Science was not able to identify its main research subject of libraries and associated apparatuses as a form of social knowledge system, and could not help but neglect to induct and apply theory and philosophy from the social sciences. In the present study, after an examination of social epistemology and sociology of knowledge, which are important epistemological foundations necessary for the strengthening of social scientific aspect of Library and Information Science, a new research parameter called sociology of library was presenteL The sociology of library will be a scheme for an epistemological turnover on the discipline of Library and Information Science.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.4 no.2 s.8
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• pp.67-101
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• 2004

Although the study of citation patterns is an important theme within the sociology of science, due to the fact that it is intimately related to the production, reproduction, and evaluation of knowledge, only sustained theoretical research outlining the differences of citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences has been conducted, and empirical studies nevertheless remain few and far between. The perspectives of institutionalism and constructivism have to attempted to explain different citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences as a contrast between 'what one says' and 'who one is'. Therefore, against this background this study examines the 'theoretical' controversy empirically by comparing the contrasting citation patterns of physics, as a representative of hard science, and sociology, as a representative of soft science. The results, in brief, are as follows: the citaton patterns in physics, as in sociology, vary according to the author's status within the hierarchical employment structure, i. e. whether s/he is a full-time lecturer or not, but diversity of citation patterns according to Ph. D. diploma area is unique to sociology. These results would suggest that the explanation of constructivism is more relevant in explaining variance according to the author's status in the employment hierarchy, but the approach of institutionalism is more appropriate to understanding variance due to Ph. D. diploma area. Furthermore, this implies the complex diversity of the citation patterns between the hard and soft sciences, pointing us to the more qualified conclusion that rather than having to choose between institutionalism and constructivism according to a mutually exclusive either/or logic, these two approaches can in fact be mutually complementary, and these approaches should also be applied piecemeal to different levels of phenomena. In conclusion, this comparative research enables us to assert the following two claims: firstly that physics, as a 'science in society', produces knowledge dependent on social context, and secondly that it also possesses a characteristic that transcends locality from the view of a sociology of knowledge.

• The Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.4 s.383
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• pp.38-40
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• 2001

녹색연합은 (상임대표 박영신 -한국사회학연구소 부소장) 91년 창립된 '배달환경연구소"와 '푸른 한반도 되찾기 시민모임'이 모체가 되어 94년에 통합, 96년 '녹색연합'으로 이름을 바꿔 오늘에 이른 환경지킴이이다. 녹색연합은 97년 '대만핵폐기물 북한반입 반대운동'을 펼쳐 세계적인 뉴스가 되었으며 최근에는 미군의 한강 독극물사건을 폭로하여 SOFA 개정의 열기를 불러일으켰다. 녹색연합은 인간과 자연이 생태계 안에서 더불어 살아가는 21세기를 환경의 세기로 열어갈 것을 다짐하고 있다.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-111
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• 2017

In this paper, I focus on the performativity thesis introduced and developed by Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars such as Callon, MacKenzie, etc. since the mid 1990s. The performativity thesis was discussed in economic sociology by STS scholars has been pervaded to other research areas including general economics, accounting, finance and so on. The main idea of the thesis is that economic theories perform, shape, and format economy rather than just describe economy. I show that the thesis is based on the traditional STS ideas such as performativity derived from Merton's self-fulfilling prophecy and the actor-network theory. Although the thesis has been criticised by various researchers from both inside and outside STS, it has provided meaningful implications for understanding economic phenomenon from a viewpoint of STS. Furthermore, reflexive researches for performativity of STS theories can be discussed in the next stage.