The role of birth control pill, commonly referred to as the ‘pill’, has been well established in society as a contraceptive method practiced by women. This little pill can be categorized as a piece of artifact or technology designed by medical scientists to prevent pregnancy. Hence, the ‘pill’ serves as a good case material to study its relationships and impacts with Science and Society within the STS framework. The objectives of this Final Examination Report are:
[Question 1]: Explain the science behind the birth control technology (the Pill)
[Question 2]: Determine the relationship between science and the birth control technology (the Pill)
[Question 3]: Describe, using a network model, the interactions between different social groups and the Pill. Please review the reading (Pinch and Bijker, 1984) in Week 10 before you attempt this Question. State five challenges faced during the development of the birth control technology (the Pill)?
In the final reading by Langdon Winner (1980) Do Artifacts have Politics?, he has raised several significant examples to support the notion that artifacts do carry subtle political consequences through design. I refer you to review the Reading to better grasp the inference of political consequences displayed by artifacts when they were deliberately designed to redistribute or reinforce power and authority onto particular social groups.
[Question 4]: Discuss whether the Pill carry any political qualities. Refer to Winner (1980) for clarifications on ‘political qualities’?
[Question 5] Technology is one of the significant factors driving social change. Explain two significant social changes the Pill has brought to the society when it finally became stabilized and adopted among social groups.
STS is an academic discipline that examines science and technological issues that we face in our living society using a multi-dimensional approach. This involves studying the various relationships and interactions between science, technology and the human society. Hence, a study of science and technology on its own without relating how it all began, its developmental process and its positive or negative manifestations on the society is certainly limiting. Thus, I hope this Final Examination Report that examines a common contraceptive pill has brought your attention that no matter how small the size of the technology is, there is a lot of science and social history that we can learn albeit some of the truths hurt and thou shall not be repeated.
