STS 1127 - FWS: Risk and Society: Knowledge, Technology and Politics

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

First-Year Writing Seminar.

S. Hilgartner.

Hurricanes. Guns. Ebola. Financial meltdowns. Contaminated food. Climate change. Cyber warfare. We live in a hazardous world of uncertainty, surrounded by claims about risks, some sounding the alarm, some seeking to reassure. Scientists, engineers, and managers try to measure and model the risks embedded in complex systems, hoping to improve our understanding and guide decisions. This seminar will consider risk from the perspective of the social sciences. How do individuals, organizations, and societies produce knowledge about hazards? How do they decide which threats deserve their attention? How do conflicting viewpoints about risk shape technology and politics? We will examine controversies in public health, disaster management, finance, and emerging technologies. Students will gain practice writing short analytic papers, Op/Ed pieces, fictional narratives, and personal reflections.