Sociology Of Scientific Knowledge By H. M. Collins A Critical Analysis

How does the development of technology affect our society and social groups? How are our views of the development of technology flawed? In 1993, Langdon Winner set out to assert the significance of these questions when he published Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty: Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Technology. He both validly criticizes holes in the considerations of social constructivists and calls for new research into the ethics and morality on the effects of technological development. He is influenced by writings under the faculty of sociology of science, as their methodology is the basis of social constructivism, the concept that the critique is focused one (Collins, 1983). Additionally, Winner’s article is influential in future writings considering the ethics of technological development. This very article can be seen as a stepping-stone or pivot point into consideration on the morality of technological developments and affects on society or societal groups. Winner’s evaluation on social constructivism commends theorists for opening the “Black Box” of technological development, but critiques them in a way that opens up a new field of ethical and moral consideration in regards to technological development (Winner, 1993).

One of the influencing texts on Winner is The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge by H. M. Collins. Langdon Winner’s article is a criticism of social constructivism, which follows the methodology and guidelines of sociology of science (Winner, 1993). It follows that Collins’ article influences this article directly and indirectly. Collins discusses at length the differences between sociology of scientific knowledge and sociology of science, in addition to the levels of criticism both ...

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