Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes in light of their implications for individual and social welfare. How can we conceptualize and evaluate the influence of technology on human well-being? Bringing together scholars from a cross-section of disciplines, this volume combines an empirical investigation of technology and its social, psychological, and political effects, and a philosophical analysis and evaluation of the implications of such effects.
Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes...
In a world of global economic competition, economic crisis, & fear of terrorism after 9/11, both corporations & state actors have a growing interest in accessing personal data. Contributors explore the changing online landscape, addressing topics such as commercial data collection, self-disclosure in the social web & surveillance of file-sharers.
In a world of global economic competition, economic crisis, & fear of terrorism after 9/11, both corporations & state actors have a growing interest i...
The Digital Evolution of an American Identity details how the concept of American individualism is challenged by the digital revolution. As digital media alter our print-dominant culture, assumptions regarding the relationship of the individual to the larger community become increasingly problematic. Current arguments regarding freedom of speech and confusion about what is meant by privacy illustrate the nature of the challenge.
C. Waite defines individualism as the ways in which the American culture traditionally strives to balance the rights of the individual against the...
The Digital Evolution of an American Identity details how the concept of American individualism is challenged by the digital revolution. As ...
This volume shows how nanotechnology takes on a wide range of socio-historically specific meanings in the context of globalization, across multiple localities, institutions and collaborations, through diverse industries, research labs, and government agencies and in a variety of discussions within the public sphere itself. It explores the early origins of nanotechnologies; the social, economic, and political organization of the field; and the cultural and subjective meanings ascribed to nanotechnologies in social settings.
This volume shows how nanotechnology takes on a wide range of socio-historically specific meanings in the context of globalization, across multiple...
This edited collection reports the results of a comparative study of video surveillance/CCTV in Germany, Poland, and Sweden. It investigates how video surveillance as technologically mediated social control is affected by national characteristics, with a specific concern for recent political history. The book is motivated by asking what makes video surveillance tick in three very different cultural settings, two of which (Poland and Sweden) are virtually unexplored in the literature on surveillance. The selection of countries is motivated by an interest in societies with recent experiences of...
This edited collection reports the results of a comparative study of video surveillance/CCTV in Germany, Poland, and Sweden. It investigates how video...
In the days of global warming and BSE, science is increasingly a public issue. This text provides a theoretical framework which allows us to understand why and how scientists address the general public.
In the days of global warming and BSE, science is increasingly a public issue. This text provides a theoretical framework which allows us to understan...
This volume explores the ways that computational visualisation affects practices of science, the perceptual and cognitive activities involved in scientific enquiry, and the notions of objectivity that are deployed methodologically, as well as with respect to what counts as a scientific object.
This volume explores the ways that computational visualisation affects practices of science, the perceptual and cognitive activities involved in scien...
Nothing seems more far removed from the visceral, bodily experience of emotions than the cold, rational technology of the Internet. But as this collection shows, the internet and emotions intersect in interesting and surprising ways. Internet and Emotions is the fruit of an interdisciplinary collaboration of scholars from the sociology of emotions and communication and media studies. It features theoretical and empirical chapters from international researchers who investigate a wide range of issues concerning the sociology of emotions in the context of new media. The book fills a...
Nothing seems more far removed from the visceral, bodily experience of emotions than the cold, rational technology of the Internet. But as this col...
This title examines the social practice of organ transplantation and trafficking and scrutinises the increasingly neoliberal tendencies in the medical system. It analyses phenomena such as the denomination of human body parts as 'raw materials' and 'commodities, ' or the arguments used by the proponents for a free market solution. Moreover, it argues that modern medicine is still linked with its religious roots
This title examines the social practice of organ transplantation and trafficking and scrutinises the increasingly neoliberal tendencies in the medical...
This book offers the first comparative account of the changes and stabilities of public perceptions of science within the US, France, China, Japan, and across Europe over the past few decades. The contributors address the influence of cultural factors; the question of science and religion and its influence on particular developments (e.g. stem cell research); and the demarcation of science from non-science as well as issues including the 'incommensurability' versus 'cognitive polyphasia' and the cognitive (in)tolerance of different systems of knowledge.
This book offers the first comparative account of the changes and stabilities of public perceptions of science within the US, France, China, Japan, an...
