Social and Political Implications of Technology
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate reading seminar examining how technology shapes social organization and political values. The course draws on historical and contemporary case studies covering the technologies of war, transportation, communication, production, and reproduction, asking how devices, structures, and systems influence the behavior of individuals and institutions. Materials include a syllabus, weekly reading assignments, and discussion questions used to structure seminar sessions, in the tradition of MIT's Science, Technology, and Society program. There are no video lectures; the course is built around close reading and written response rather than recorded instruction. It suits students who want a structured introduction to the field of technology studies through primary texts rather than survey lectures. As with other MIT OCW offerings, all materials are free to access and there is no certificate.