New connections: social studies of science and technology and studies of work

Debates about the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in transforming the economy and society are central to the sociology of work and employment.At their core, theories of the information society, post-Fordism and postmodernity, as well as more recent theories of globalization, the knowledge economy and the network society all contain claims about the dramatic effects of technological change (for example, Castells, 1996(for example, Castells, , 2001).Yet, to date, studies of work have rarely drawn on perspectives from the social studies of science and technology (STS).Over the last two decades, STS has become established as a distinct academic field, with its own professional association (Society for Social Studies of Science), journals (Science, Technology, & Human Values; Social Studies of Science; Science as Culture), handbooks (Hackett et al., forthcoming; Jasanoff et al., 1995) and a book series (Inside Technology, MIT Press).While this burgeoning international literature is characterized by its interdisciplinarity, it emerged in large part from within the sociology of scientific knowledge.However, the sociology of work was also formative, particularly the labour process debates of the 1970s and 1980s.Since that time, the sociology of work, in common with sociology more generally, has failed to give due attention to the constitutive role of technology in society.This article suggests that there is scope for more cross-fertilization between these two areas of social science.Up to now, studies of the relationship between technology and work have been limited by overly technicist theories about the impact of technology on skill and managerial control. 1 By contrast, STS emphasizes that, while it is important to understand the technical properties and material power of ICTs, the 'technical' and the 'social' are not separate spheres, but one and the same.Technologies not only change the nature and meaning of jobs and work activities, but they also reconfigure relationships between people and the spaces they occupy.The present essay begins by outlining the key Work, employment and society