How can we study the societal dimensions of nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is in its infancy, and while cultural and social scientists may be qualified to address societal and ethical impacts generally, they are less equipped to determine what will happen as a result of specific technical changes.

Because nanotech is actually part of many fields, no single group has the evidence to define the totality of impact. It is thus an extraordinary challenge to understand the societal impacts of something that has yet to arrive in its full scale or even be envisioned as such. Quantitative and qualitative work in a variety of disciplines is needed if researchers are to understand the emergence of nanotechnology and its implications for society on an ongoing basis. In addition to the more traditional social sciences, research in fields such as economics, business, marketing, and law will help to both quantify and qualify the emergence and effects of nanotechnology.

For example, economists may study the “generation, diffusion, and impacts” of particular nanotechnology functions, and even isolate the major variables that affect whether particular technologies achieve widespread acceptance or are rejected in the marketplace. Or they may study nanotechnology impacts on discontinuities and disruptions in particular industries or across industry boundaries. Business researchers may study the financial impact of nanotechnology, or track its adoption in particular industry segments. Marketing research may contribute to knowledge by identifying factors that affect adoption and diffusion, including the impact of nanotechnology on existing market segmentations. Legal scholars may be interested in nanotechnology from a variety of perspectives, such as the sponsorship of national nanotechnology initiatives, and the impact of these on trade frameworks and treaty obligations, or the impact of nanotechnology on privacy in legal contexts.

This raises an important dilemma in discussions of how to assess the societal implications of nanotechnology. While knowledge of nanotechnology itself is highly specialized rather than a general form of knowledge, largely because it is developed using specific methods in fields that are already highly specialized, the possible means by which one can contemplate the implications of nanotechnology are also highly specialized, even within fields. One set of economists might evaluate a discussion of a potential “nanotechnology divide” by reference to the literature of information asymmetries. Another set of economists may use a different literature and research approach. Similarly, legal scholars may evaluate particular nanotechnology endeavors according to their particular specialization, such as international or privacy law.

An important question is how such implications can be derived from specialized fields and communicated to others. While specific research agendas are best understood within particular fields or at the boundaries and intersections of fields, there appears to be an important meta-agenda: to develop a catalog of societal implications of nanotechnology from across all fields that may answer the question, “what are the societal implications of nanotechnology?” There are some efforts to manage these implications, such as the Foresight Institute’s Nanotechnology Roadmap and the US National Nanotechnology Initiative.

Liberal Arts Services

How can we study the societal dimensions of nanotechnology?