A retrospect of 25 years of Japanese STS

How should Science and Technology Studies retrieve its critical function?

Abstract

　 After Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster, Japanese STS is questioned whether it retains critical function against science and technology. The author starts his argument with his experience which exemplifies that it failed to give critical perspective to experts. Then he moves on to the retrospect of 25 year history of Japanese STS from the establishment of STS Network Japan in 1990 to that of the Japanese Society for the Science and Technology Studies. He concludes that Japanese STS has been shaped under the strong influence of the social establishment of Japan, and it is destined to lose its critical role. He suggests that, in order to retrieve its relevant function, Japanese STSers should pay much more attention not to ‘Kuhnified’ main line studies but to the achievements of non-mainstream scholars.