Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
- What is "STS"?
- What is the intellectual rationale for the STS Program?
- What kind of major is STS?
- Why should a Stanford student consider majoring in STS?
- What can one do with a degree in STS?
1. What is "STS"?
Founded in 1971, STS (Science, Technology, and Society) is a program of teaching and research devoted to study of science and technology in society, in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Similar programs exist around the country (at MIT, Cornell University, Penn State University, North Carolina State University, University of Michigan, Vassar College, Claremont Colleges, Colby College, etc.) and abroad (e.g., in Canada, England, Norway, Sweden, Holland, and Australia). Program faculty often use the expression "STS" as a convenient way of referring to the general area of scholarly activity in which they share an interest. Stanford's STS Program has affiliated faculty with strong interests in the intersections of science and technology with ethics, aesthetics, public policy, politics, cultural change, economic development, history of science, history of technology, organizations, history of medicine, history of engineering, work, information, and material culture.
2. What is the intellectual rationale for the STS Program?
STS teaching and research are predicated on the belief that science and technology are two of the most potent forces for individual, societal, and global change in the contemporary era. Understanding the natures, causes, and social consequences of scientific and technological developments, how science and technology function in different societies, and how social forces attempt to shape and control these forces to serve diverse, often conflicting interests, is, in the opinion of program faculty, socially important and intellectually challenging. Since adequately understanding this subject matter requires study beyond the purview of any single conventional academic discipline, STS is constituted as a multi- and inter-disciplinary program.
