Science and technology are shaping today's society.
The result is the emergence of a new way of installing human beings in the world and, consequently, of a new model of society.
We are in a period of transition, which we call in different ways depending on the degree of commitment we wish to achieve: post-industrial society, information society, technological society, digital society¿.
A transition that is leading to what is already being heralded as the knowledge society.
The subject therefore studies a process of change, of profound change that is being experienced, and which, consequently, is not finished. This requires a dynamic view of the study and not a snapshot of the present moment.
The subject should therefore provide the student with the ability to:
- Observe and value the presence of science and technology in today's world and their proximity at all levels of social life.
- Perceive the processes of change to which the different activities in society and, of course, individuals are subject.
- To reflect on concepts that are indispensable for understanding change, such as crisis, innovation, risk, obsolescence, uncertainty, maladjustment, etc., and to assimilate them for use as instruments for analysing situations in today's world.
- To practice a dynamic vision of social phenomena, however current they may be, which leads to analysing them bearing in mind that they have undergone a process of evolution up to now and that the future is present in the form of imbalances, of problems that will be generators of future events.
- To represent an immediate scenario different from the current one in which knowledge constitutes the main wealth of a society and the main reorganiser of its structures. And at the same time the generator of new inequalities and dependencies between populations.
- To open up to transdisciplinarity as a way of tackling the situations of complex societies.
- Understanding that transitions are always diffuse both in their manifestations and in their boundaries, and thus developing a practice of analysis of change that is different from compartmentalisation.
These skills also provide useful competences not only for the intellectual training needed to understand today's world, but also for professional activity, whatever it may be, as it provides an understanding of change, permanent innovation, the role of knowledge¿ and thus prepares for the challenges that every profession will face.
