The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (review)

STS is a flourishing interdisciplinary field of study now some four decades old. Thus, as STS has matured it is not surprising that there should be an attempt at providing an overview of the field, one that at once seeks to review the conceptual foundations, assess key theoretical and methodological approaches, and treat emerging issues worthy of continued engagement by scholars, both established and those new to the field, as well as other professionals interested in the analysis of technoscientific-related policy, social change, and consequences. This Handbook is in fact the third such attempt, following those of Ina Spiegel-Rosing and Derek de Solla Price, eds., Science, Technology, and Society: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective (1977), and Sheila Jasanoff, Gerald E. Markle, James C. Petersen, and Trevor Pinch, eds., Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (1995). Each subsequent volume of essays has reflected an increasing institutionalization and professionalization of the field. The current edition of the Handbook reflects a pendulum-like swing back to a broader concern for policy implications and the societal application of STS insights that had been present in the first volume but less effectively engaged by the second, and perhaps most visibly reflected in the shift in emphasis with the titles. At exactly 1,000 pages of text, the current volume is the most comprehensive introduction to and summary of the STS field currently available.

The Handbook’s thirty-eight chapters are divided into five roughly equal sections. Science studies tends to dominate the topics, but, even though no essay is explicitly focused on the history of technology, technology is suffused throughout many of the essays, often as an illustrative case study or as part of a broader treatment of technoscience. Section I offers a variety of framing perspectives including a very nice overview of the STS field by Sergio Sismondo and an essay on technological determinism, and why it continues to fascinate us, by Sally Wyatt. Section II on people, places, and practices of research and knowledge production includes essays on the past, present, and future state of laboratory studies by Park Doing and an assessment of the role of scientific training in knowledge creation by Cyrus Mody and David Kaiser. Section III treats the various publics engaged with science and technology and examines the relevance of STS for policymaking. Nelly Oudshoorn and Trevor Pinch examine the relationships between users and technology, which should interest readers of this journal, while Deborah Johnson and Jameson Wetmore analyze the relationship between STS and engineering ethics. Essays included in Section IV treat institutions and economic issues and cover such topics as the commercialization of science (Philip Mirowski and Esthser-Mirjam Sent), patients and pharmaceuticals (Andrew Lakoff), and science and the law (Sheila Jasanoff). The final section examines emergent technologies and areas of science and includes essays by Adam Hedgecoe and Paul Martin on genomics, Linda Hogle on medical technologies, Steven Yearly on the environment, and Daniel Barben, Erik Fisher, Cynthia Selin, and David Guston on nanotechnology.

Space limitations preclude detailed discussion of every essay and topic included in this new Handbook, the largest and most extensive of the three. Each author has sought to address the state of knowledge in his/her area of interest, and extensive bibliographic references lead the reader to further sources. Few will want to read the collection straight through, but as a ready reference or introduction, either for graduate students or scholars new to the field of STS or unfamiliar with allied subfields, this volume is clearly the place to start, and it should be on the shelf of every research library.