Technology and Society: Proposal for A Transdisciplinary Framework and A Sample Analysis on GMOs in Thailand

Abstract

The nowadays changing world and many new problems are

showing us that technology and society can be no longer the separated

issues, but are increasingly and highly interactive. Regarding knowledge

or discipline, there is some discourse on "transdiscipline"' or interdis-

cipline", but their actua adjustments are very slightly systematic. This

paper aims to propose a sample conceptua framework to explain the

interrelation between technology and society. It firstly acdresses two

underlying conceptual sets from the academic circle, which is still un-

knovn in Thailand, but was established in Western for a couple decade

ago, namely "'science and technology studies". The frst conceptual set

is "technics", which is consisted of two categories:authoritarian and

democratic technics. The second is a set of "story-lines of technological

change" which can be divided into three approaches: economic inno-

vation, social construction, and cultral appropriation. Together with

three-social-sector concept (government, business, and civil society), the

dynamically interactive framework is synthesized to demonstrated us that

which approach, which technics and which sector play the dominant role

in the current direction of technological change, and hov to change it.

Finally, the paper shows an actual sample analysis of Thailand's GMOs

policy, both in domestic movement and foreign policy.