Engineers: Makers of the World or Cogs in the Machine? - I: Engineers and Power in Politics, Organizations and Everyday Life

Abstract

STS studies suggest that engineers gather heterogeneous entities in their projects (J. Law, M. Callon, L. Suchman). They make the technology work but also create a world around this technology (B. Latour). A new world entails the possibility of searching funding and political support, building new social ontology and enacting necessary infrastructure. Each engineer turns out to be a maker of a new world.
However, such a picture contradicts the conventional vision. According to this vision, engineers usually rely on the standardized procedures and act as cogs in large technological systems. As such cogs, they tend to be as far as possible from the public discussions of their projects. So, who are the engineers today? The world-makers or those who perform a set of standard operations as far as possible away from public discussions? Are there cultural differences in such perceptions of engineers?
In Session 1, we will discuss the role of engineers in politics, organizations and everyday life.

Chair

• Olga Bychkova, European University at St.Petersburg

Individual Presentations

• "This Man Is Not Responsible for Anything": Engineers and Their Everyday Concerns - Liliia Zemnukhova, European Univeristy at St. Petersburg; Irina Evseeva, European University at St. Petersburg

• Assessing the past and Future of Engineering Judgment - Jonathan Weedon, Texas Tech University

• Facing “Agile” and “Project-Based” Organization: The Challenges of Engineering Work in France - Olga Lelebina, ISG International Business School

Session Organizers

• Olga Bychkova, European University at St.Petersburg

• Nikolai Rudenko, European University at St. Petersburg