Macquarie University

Science, Society and Environment - SOCX254

This unit examines the relationship between science and society through environmental sustainability. It focuses on two big questions:

1. How can we understand science and scientific developments as social processes and institutions?
2. How can we understand the implications of scientific advance and insights on society?

There are three broad sections, each looking through the lens of science and the environment:

1. How has science produced knowledge? - discussion of the scientific project and Modernity; the nature of scientific knowledge and its relationship to mastering nature and developing technology;

2. The political economy of science - examining how the funding of science and the use of scientific technologies for production influence the development of scientific knowledge (from corporations, governments, universities, NGOs, UN/WHO/UNESCO and IPCC, etc); some particular mention of these dynamics and climate change; and

3. Incorporating science into policy - examines how policy makers and governments translate scientific knowledge into policy. What is the role of scientific projections (like those given by the IPCC), how do politicians and bureaucracies attempt to interpret science, especially in a context of political contestation?