Technology is everywhere in our society today, you cannot get away from it. It is used at home, work, school, church, and even during free time. Technology has allowed us to communicate, find information, cure diseases, and entertain ourselves like never before. But technology has also made us lazy, less social, and dependent on it. But it is not technology that decides to do this, it is the people using it. Technology was created for a purpose, and it exists to do some sort of action. Therefore, one might say that technology used to extract/emit fossil fuels, electricity, and agriculture is responsible for climate change. In reality, humans created the technology and humans are using it in ways that is destroying the environment. But now, humans are creating and using technology to try and fix the problem that we have been creating for hundreds of years. One example is solar power. It is a form of renewable energy that takes in the sunlight through solar panels and converts it into energy. It does not contribute to global warming like most other forms of energy and is not in risk of fuel price spikes. (Rogers and Wisland, 2014) But it is up to humans and how we decide to use this renewable energy source that will determine the consequences of the technology.
In STS (science and technology studies) it is often studied how technology affects science and society. STS looks at science and society as dependent on each other rather than independent systems. Many theories are used to help understand things that go on in science, politics, history, culture, and communities. In this case, technology impacts society because it is producing sustainable energy that will improve the economy in the long run and damage our environment much less than the fossil fuels are currently. I will be using solar power technology and its relationships with science and society to better understand the “Social Construction of Technology”, the “Scientific Revolutions”, and “The and “2 Questions Concerning Technology”.
The first time solar power was introduced in the United States was in 1883 when an American inventor, Charles Fritts created the first solar panel rooftop (“History of Solar Power” 2010). The solar panels absorb energy from the sun and convert it into an inexhaustible source of power such as electricity. In more technocratic terms, “When sunlight strikes the solar cells, it induces chemical reactions that release the electrons, thus generating electric current,” (Solar Action Alliance). Once the Yom Kippur War began in the Middle East, The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) called for limitations and embargo on oil production. The prices skyrocketed and created the first “energy crisis” (“History of Solar Power” 2010). After the Energy Crisis in 1973, the government implemented the “Solar Heating and Cooling Demonstration Act of 1974” and put solar heating and cooling units in all federal building to influence other businesses and organizations to invest in solar power. The government then funded a research institution for solar energy and began commercializing solar power to increase its use in the states and hopefully relieve the energy crisis.
Solar power never really became an energy staple for America because it was always too expensive for how little energy it was actually producing. The role of the state is crucial for the advancement of solar power. Rogers and Wisland say in their report “Solar Power on the Rise” that important areas for the state to focus on include renewable electricity standards, research and development, federal power plant carbon standards, determining the full value of solar power, and new utility business models because these are concrete actions that will accelerate the support and potential for solar power (2014). In order for solar power to become more prominent, action needs to be taken at the individual, business and governmental level. So far, through tax credits, grants, and numerous energy Acts the government has been heavily subsidizing the solar power energy with research and other types of support to continue to solar energy progression. Within 2011 and 2012 there were over 300 solar energy initiatives by six different government agencies (Sabas 2016). By 2013, 30% of electricity capacity installed was solar (Rogers and Wisland 2014). Each year, solar power is becoming more and more popular among other energy sources through local support and state actions. In addition to solar power becoming popular, its prices are also decreasing. Even though the cost for solar power in the US is still more expensive than many other countries, it has been steadily decreasing in the past decade. A push from the local level has been a big factor in this decrease. Many local communities have come together to demanding access to solar power for homes (Rogers and Wisland).
Thomas Kuhn developed the idea that there are scientific revolutions in history and explained Normal Science to be “when members of a field share past successes, beliefs about theories, problems of the field, and solutions”. But periods of normal science do not stay forever, they go through cycles of normal science, crisis, paradigm, and back to normal science. A crisis is when research comes out that causes discomfort within the paradigm but it is ignored, but then so much research and findings come out that the paradigm starts to fall apart and the new studies are addressed. Not only do paradigm shifts bring new ideologies and research, but they also change scientific practices, goals, standard, and perceptions of society and the world.
We are now in a paradigm where the protection of the environment is very important to most of us, but it has not always been this way. There were always groups of people throughout time that believed in protecting nature and the environment, but it was not until 1960’s-70’s that scientists had proof of gas levels in the atmosphere rising. Then (and even now) people were denying the fact that the earth was warming at dangerous rates. Scientists questioned whether policies should be enacted to slow the greenhouse gas emission. At first, research was being released that caused discomfort in the paradigm of industrial revolution where no one was concerned with the fossil fuels that were being exploited. Eventually, so many concerns and scientific reports were released that this paradigm began to fall apart and a new one was made. Councils, policies, new energy sources, and organizations were made to protect the environment that we were quickly destroying. And I believe we are currently in another crisis and another paradigm shift will happen soon because we now have twelve years to act, or there is no going back. We have the science, technology, knowledge, and skills to do something, but it up to humans to decide what to do with all of these resources because these resources will not slow the rate of climate change on their own.
Other questions STS scholars ask include, “‘Is technology applied science?” The standard view of technology is that it is just the application of science, but technology affects science and acts back, making the science doable. Technology is used as a tool to shape and interact with our world (Sismondo 2010). Solar power is not just applied science because solar power has impacts on society, the economy, and politics. The scientists and scientific institutions are responsible for whatever these impacts may be, good or bad, not the solar power itself.
The second question asks, ‘Does technology drive history?’ Technological changes and advancements certainly force our society to change and adapt to the new technology or else you will be left behind socially, politically, or economically. Technological advances actually affect class structure and the economy which then affects history (Sismondo 2010). Therefore, technology does correlate with the advancements of history, but it does not directly drive it. A better question would be if technology shapes and affects history, and the answer to this is yes. But at the same time, history shapes and affects technology.
Solar power has forced an adaptation in society, a shift in history, and a large impact on the economy. Solar power technology has shifted society’s mindset on energy, energy conservation, and environmental concerns. When something so realistic and large is put on our buildings, homes, and open spaces, it makes everything become a lot more real. Seeing the solar panels allows people to see action being taken to produce sustainable energy and its importance. Solar power impacts the economy in three ways: saving money on energy, job opportunities, and environmental value (Tocmo 2017). But it is important to realize solar power as a technology has shaped, shifted, and affected history and culture, not directly driven it.
The Actor-Network Theory (ANT) was established by Bruno Latour and it is a theory that looks at the relationship between technology and science, while treating them as being the same (technoscience). ANT believes that human and non-human actors have agency, meaning they both play an important role in constructing the relationship between technology and science. One way humans influence science technology, and society is through scientific research which is then acted on through new policies or prescription drugs for example. Nonhuman actors, such as technology, can impact science by allow human to discover or create new knowledge. While technology does not do this entirely on its own, it is created for a purpose and then carries out that duty which influences science and society.
Some of the actors that impact the relationship between science, society, and solar power technology include the state, agencies and businesses, scientists, local citizens, and solar panels themselves. The state makes decisions like whether it wants to use feed-in tariffs, how much money goes to research and development, determining the standards of renewable electricity, and what policies are made to promote renewable energy. Solar power agencies and businesses as well as petroleum oil, natural gas, and coal companies also play a huge role on the relationship between the science and solar power technology. Local citizens are actors that can influence decisions of the state and businesses to support solar power. Lastly, solar power itself is an actor because it helps decrease the fossil fuels released into the atmosphere as well as change lives for those living in developing countries. There is agency in the progress of solar power because both human actors and non-human actors are affecting the outcomes.
Often times, the A.N.T. questions whether an artifact is political. So is solar power political? It may sound like a silly question at first because artifacts cannot converse with each other or humans and have political debates. But I do think that the ways people use artifacts and the social meaning added to artifacts allows them to contribute to politics. Solar power is political in the sense that it affects countries and their policies, laws, conversations in the government and action of the local communities at the same time that politics affects technology such as solar power and other sources of renewable energy.
In STS, the social construction of technology (S.C.O.T.) perspective has been studied and used for a long time. It stems from the debate of technological determinism versus social constructivism, where determinists believe that it is technology that controls the development of history and culture and constructivists argue that technology does not determine history and culture, but rather, humans shape technology which influences history and culture. We live in a mediated, symbolic reality where everything has meanings attached to it because of us, not because they inherently symbolize or mean something on its own. While we both discover and create truth, we would not accumulate new knowledge without human judgement, interpretation, and collaborative decisions.
One of the core concepts of S.C.O.T. is interpretive flexibility which means every thing or artifact has various meanings and values for different groups (Sismondo 2010). For example, solar power holds different value in different countries of the world and has therefore progressed quicker in some countries than others. The same technology or artifact can shape different realities and outcomes for people depending on how they perceive it and act upon it.
While we are struggling to get solar power to compete with the fossil fuel industry, 36.1% of Germany’s energy is sourced from solar power and almost 100% of its electricity comes from renewable energy (Ameland 2018). Germany uses large “Feed-in Tariffs” which is a large factor for why they are one of the leading countries for renewable energy use (“Looking at the Rise of Solar Power in Germany”). Feed-In Tariffs basically pay people for using for the renewable energy that they generate. Germany’s renewable energy sector provides jobs for 355,000 people and their solar energy sector also provides jobs for almost 40,000 people (La Shier 2017). It is the role of the state and the market that determines how much solar power can do for a country and Germany’s government is giving solar power and renewable resources much more priority than our government is. I would say that in Germany, solar power is impacting their politics and forcing them to have an environmental protection agenda. Whereas in other countries, like the US, the political agenda that is more focused on private profit is shaping the solar power, by keeping it from thriving and reaching its full potential.
Solar power is a fairly new concept in developing countries but it is being implemented at a fast rate. There are multiple reasons why solar power is a great option for people in developing countries. First, they are more exposed to the natural sunlight so they are able to get a lot of energy from the sun. It is becoming more affordable for both homes and villages, which is important in these areas where the poverty rates are extremely high. Lastly, many of the resources needed for energy are facing a shortage in these areas so they have to switch to solar power as an alternative (Foroudastan 2006). Switching to solar energy also contributes to a cleaner air, which is becoming a necessity in over populated cities where the air is heavily polluted. Rather than implementing solar panels on huge buildings, they are showing up on smaller building like homes and small commercial buildings. With all of this being said, technologies, like solar cells, are whatever humans make of them. But it is not just humans themselves, the government and political economy also play a huge role in how much the renewable energy can be used in each country.
Solar power has a short and recent history but a bright future. Throughout this paper I used solar power as a technology to better explain some of the theories and perspectives used in STS. We have seen the ways that our society has gone through crises and paradigm shifts relating to global warming and environment concern forcing renewable energy and solar power to become more popular. Through the 2 Questions Concerning Technology, it can be understood that solar power has not driven history, but it has definitely impacted and shaped it in the same way that history and culture has shaped the use of solar power. Within the same perspective, it can be understood that solar power is not just the application of science. The Actor-Network Theory shows how human and non-human actors shape the relationship between solar power and science. Lastly, the Social Construction of Technology theory explains that we socially shape the uses and important of solar power. Its uses and abilities to provide renewable energy was not predetermined, but rather it was socially constructed by scientists, the state, and local citizens. Through each theory it has been shown that science and technology are equal and work together to shape history and culture while history and culture shape science and technology at the same time.
References
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Sismondo, Sergio. An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, 2010. 2nd Ed. Wiley-Blackwell.
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Watts, Jonathan. “We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN.” The Guardian, 08 Oct. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report
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