The role of social science in engineering

Abstract

In an era that seemingly celebrates interdisciplinarity [Nowotny et al., 2001] where technology is no longer the exclusive preserve of engineers one might imagine that it would be rewarding to review research into the influence that social science has had upon engineering. For a long time many have also argued that social science issues should be given more prominence in engineering curricula. More to the point, social studies of technology have repeatedly observed how important the understanding of the social world is to successful engineering. This emanates especially from the consistent reconceptualisation of technology as seamlessly sociotechnical, as an outcome of combining so-to-speak nature and culture (see, e.g., Bijker et al. [1987] and Latour [1988]).