STS Circle Lecture

Sandwich lunches are provided. Please RSVP to sts@hks.harvard.edu by Thursday, March 22.

Abstract: The subject of time has become a major preoccupation in academic and popular writing because people feel short of it. It is now conventional wisdom to think that more and more aspects of our lives are speeding up. While many factors are contributing to this phenomenon, information and communication technologies are seen as the main drivers. Images of technologically tethered, blackberry-addicted workers abound. This talk considers the way social theorists analyse concepts of time and acceleration and then examines how these claims might be assessed in the light of empirical research. Such research shows that time compression has multiple dimensions, and that the effect of digital devices like the mobile phone is not simply one of acceleration. In particular, I suggest that the social studies of technology offers a richer analysis of the reciprocal relationship between technological innovation and changing time practices.

Biography: Professor Judy Wajcman is in the Sociology Department at the London School of Economics. She is an Associate Fellow of Oxford Internet Institute and is a past President of the Society for the Social Studies of Science. Her books include Feminism Confronts Technology, Managing Like A Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management, TechnoFeminism, The Politics of Working Life and the Social Shaping of Technology (with MacKenzie). She is one of the editors of The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Her work has been translated into French, German, Greek, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.