“From an STS perspective”: An analysis of a recurring phrase in academic writing about science, technology, and society

Science and Technology Studies (STS) is a vast, interdisciplinary playground that invites diverse explorations of science, technology, and society relations. Despite this vastness, numerous authors in STS use a single phrase – “From an STS perspective” – when writing for peers and broader audiences. To claim “an STS perspective” suggests that there is some specific coherent, cohesive, and delineating perspective within STS. This claim seems to clash with the ideals of openness and multiplicity, which are taken as being central to STS scholarship. Taking this tension between singularity and plurality as its entry point, this paper examines how STS scholars recurrently use the term “STS perspective” in STS journal articles, STS handbooks, and STS conference abstracts over the past ten years. It considers two questions: 1) Does a close examination of the phrase give us a better sense of what STS means to STS scholars? 2) What does the phrase accomplish rhetorically, for instance in terms of signaling membership of a research community? The paper seeks to sensitize STS researchers to how they draw intellectual boundaries around STS and the rhetorical moves they make as scholars and writers – whether deliberately or inadvertently. It argues that the phrase “From an STS perspective” and variations of it, can be enabling of different articulations of STS. However, such phrases become meaningless tropes that risk excluding various perspectives (both STS and non-STS) from the conversation if its authors do not give some indication of what they mean.