What is 4S?
The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) is an international, nonprofit scholarly society founded in 1975. 4S fosters interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine (a field often referred to as STS). Membership in the society is open to anyone interested in understanding developments in science, technology, or medicine in relation to their social contexts.
All About 4S Membership
For renewals, the member directory, and meeting registration, visit the Member Portal.
4S News
President’s Message, 15 April, 2020
04/15/2020
Fleck Prize announced. ESTS editorial change. Virtual meeting update.
(...more)4S/EASST Conference to Go All Virtual
04/04/2020
Given future scenarios of the current pandemic and related restrictions in global mobility, we concluded that it is not reasonable any longer to (techno)optimistically keep organizing the physical event in Prague. From the three options on the table – to cancel, postpone or go virtual, we decided on the third option. We will migrate the event to the virtual timespace and it will take place in the planned dates of August 18-21, 2020.
(...more)New: Technoscience Podcast
03/20/2020
Listen to the first of a new series of STS podcasts with Andrea Ballestero (Rice University) being interviewed by Alison Kenner (Drexel University).
Andrea Ballestero's new book, A Future History of Water, is available open access here. See Andrea's keynote lecture for the 2020 Anthro in Transit conference at the...
(...more)President’s Message, 15 March 2020
03/15/2020
Dear STSers,
I am writing only about COVID-19 today. Our Wisconsin governor has canceled all schools K-12, public and private. The university is still teaching and meeting, but only online. All the students who can leave have left. We have no face-to-face faculty meetings, job interviews, etc. All...
(...more)Backchannels
Backchannels provides an outlet for alternative-format scholarly communications, publishing shorter, timelier, media-rich communiques of interest to the global STS community.
A slow conversation on COVID-19
Reflections / Mascha Gugganig and Nina Klimburg-Witjes
This piece is a recollection of phone conversations between two STS researchers on academic pace and research writing amid the global pandemic.Doing STS research in a Covid-19 world: Voices from the global South
Reflections / Joseph Satish Vedanayagam
In this collective post, Gloria Baigorrotegui, Editor of the Backchannels (Global South) introduces the team of Assistant Editors and turns to each one of them, eliciting their reflections on doing STS research in the times of Covid-19.Promoting health access and the technological vacuum in the coronavirus pandemic: a persistent dilemma in Brazil
Reflections / Renan Gonçalves Leonel da Silva
Does Brazil meet the conditions to be a country that will develop a COVID-19 vaccine?COVID-19 related podcasts and blog posts
Projects / Ellen K Foster
A reblog of various podcasts and STS-related posts engaging the COVID-19 topic.STS Futures Symposium in Toronto, Canada
Report-backs / Dayna Jeffrey and Michelle Charette
This paper highlights discussions and conversations that took place at York University’ STS Futures Symposium on February 7, 2020.Electronic Waste and the Global South
Reflections / Anwesha Borthakur
Anwesha Borthakur writes that the growth of E-waste over the years, and its effects on the global South, have been alarming, and thus necessitates immediate policy and research attention.Informal Financial Markets: History, Ethnography, Technology
Report-backs / Daivi Rodima-Taylor and Elise Dermineur Reuterswärd
A report on a recent interdisciplinary symposium on informal financial markets that brought together historical and comparative perspectives.Bridging Science, Religion and STS in India: An interview with Renny Thomas
Reflections / Joseph Satish Vedanayagam
In this post, Joseph Satish interviews Renny Thomas on the challenges of bridging science, religion and STS in India. Thomas' ethnographic work is unique to the exploration of caste, religion and atheism in the Indian laboratory.Coronavirus - Call for Contributions from STS, Technoscience and Beyond
Reflections / Amanda Windle
Call for contributions from the 4S community in response to COVID-19. We are looking to put together a rough and iterative toolkit and a range of sources for 4S readers to think together around issues raised by the current coronavirus pandemic. Expected publication date for April 2020.Denying Science inside of the heart of public administration: Why rhetoric and baseless decisions might damage Brazil’s agri-environmental policies
Reflections / Diogo Lopes de Oliveira and Ronaldo P. Santos
This article explores how Brazil is currently dealing with environmental issues, the green agenda, and scientific rhetorics.New in...
Research Articles
Labor Out of Place: On the Varieties and Valences of (In)visible Labor in Data-Intensive Science -- Michael J. Scroggins, Irene V. Pasquetto
Enchanted Determinism: Power without Responsibility in Artificial Intelligence -- Alexander Campolo, Kate Crawford
Considering Concepts
The Methodologists: a Unique Category of Scientific Actors -- Nicole C. Nelson
Critical Engagements
Low-Carbon Research: Building a Greener and More Inclusive Academy -- Anne Pasek
Upgraded to Obsolescence: Age Intervention in the Era of Biohacking -- Kirsten L. Ellison
Thematic Collection
From Sideline to Frontline: STS in the Trump Era -- Daniel Lee Kleinman
We Have Never Been Anti-Science: Reflections on Science Wars and Post-Truth -- Michael Lynch
Du Boisian Propaganda, Foucauldian Genealogy, and Antiracism in STS Research -- Anthony Ryan Hatch
Drought, Hurricane, or Wildfire? Assessing the Trump Administration’s Anti-Science Disaster -- Scott Frickel, Christopher M. Rea
STS Currents against the “Anti-Science” Tide -- Abby J. Kinchy
Learning in Crisis: Training Students to Monitor and Address Irresponsible Knowledge Construction by US Federal Agencies under Trump -- Chris Tirrell, Laura Senier, Sara Ann Wylie, Cole Alder, Grace Poudrier, Jesse DiValli, Marcy Beck, Eric Nost, Rob Brackett, Gretchen Gehrke
Hidden Injustice and Anti-Science -- Laurel Smith-Doerr
Science and Democracy Reconsidered -- Joseph Harris
New in...
Technoscience Updates
The most recent postings to the Profession pages, emailed monthly to 4S members.