The focus of the module will be on understanding some of the processes of production and contestation of science and technologies, and will question what this newly articulated understanding of science tells us about how to regulate science and how to regulate with science. The module will be based, theoretically and methodologically, on some of the key texts of Science and Technology Studies (STS), familiarising students with this particular branch of sociology and its emphasis on the need to question common understandings of science as objective, neutral, and occupying a space distinct from "social" or “political” spheres. This will enable students to reflect on the idea that science, law and politics can be seen as co-produced, interrelated, and co-dependent, and that reliance on scientific “facts” or scientific experts in the making of regulation is not a neutrally informed process. These issues will be illustrated by case studies on contemporary and contested issues that have been of interest to lawyers and STS scholars – and, importantly, explored by scholars working at the interface of these disciplines. The case studies envisaged (which will include: climate change; GM products; pharmaceutical development and access to health; traditional medicine and global regulation) will provide a focal point for exploring the key questions and themes of the module: what is the role of science in law and policy/politics? How objective is science, and how do scientific methods and devices participate in building the image of science as an independent, a-political, discipline? What is/should be the role of scientific experts in democratic states? How far does global science, and its institutions, challenge the role and approaches of regulators? What are/should be the relationships between regulation, citizens and science?
Total contact hours: 18
Private study hours: 182
Total study hours: 200
LLM in (Specialisation); LLM in Law; PG Diploma in (Specialisation); PG Certificate in Law
Main assessment methods
Commentary (Max 1500 words) – 15%
Presentation, in pairs, five minutes per person – 15%
Essay (Max 4000 words) – 70%
Reassessment methods
Reassessment Instrument: 100% coursework
Everson, M. and Vos, E. (Eds) (2009) Uncertain Risks Regulated, Abingdon: Routledge
Foster, K. R. and Huber, P. W. (1999) Judging Science: Scientific Knowledge and the Federal Courts, Cambridge: MIT Press
Goldberg, S. (1994) Culture Clash: Law and Science in America, New York: New York University Press
Latour, Bruno, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory (Oxford: OUP, 2005)
Pottage, Alain and M. Mundy eds. Law, anthropology and the constitution of the social: the making of persons and things (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Sunder Rajan, K, Biocapital: The Constitution of Post-Genomic Life (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006)
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature and its intersection with legal regulation
2. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the complexity of the relationship between science and society, and the implications of this for
regulating science and technology-intensive sites of regulation – e.g. climate change, pharmaceuticals, GM
3. Demonstrate a comprehensive ability to critically assess the institutional practices involved in the making of scientific facts and in their
integration in policy and legal regulations
4. Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of the co-production of law, politics and science through particular case studies
5. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the links between scientific knowledge, power, and international development
6. Critically assess the role of scientific experts and accountability in democratic societies
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the political, social and cultural contexts of "facts"
2. Demonstrate a comprehensive ability to carry out independent further research using interdisciplinary literatures informing a sustained
and detailed argument
3. Demonstrate the ability to sustain a detailed argument, whilst covering controversial and contested topics
4. Critically summarise detailed theoretical and legal material, analysing and critically evaluating different positions that arise in the literature
surveyed.
Stage 1
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