Nanotechnology is enabling applications in materials, microelectronics, health, and agriculture, which are projected to create the next big shift in production, comparable to the industrial revolution. Such major shifts always co-evolve with social relationships. This book focuses on how nanotechnologies might affect equity/equality in global society. Nanotechnologies are likely to open gaps by gender, ethnicity, race, and ability status, as well as between developed and developing countries, unless steps are taken now to create a different outcome. Organizations need to change their practices, and cultural ideas must be broadened if currently disadvantaged groups are to have a more equal position in nano-society rather than a more disadvantaged one. Economic structures are likely to shift in the nano-revolution, requiring policymakers and participatory processes to invent new institutions for social welfare, better suited to the new economic order than those of the past.
Author(s): Susan E. Cozzens (editor), Jameson Wetmore (editor)
Series: Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society 2
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 458
Tags: Social Sciences, general; Nanotechnology; Ethics; Quality of Life Research
Front Matter....Pages i-xxx
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Contexts of Equity: Thinking About Organizational and Technoscience Contexts for Gender Equity in Biotechnology and Nanotechnology....Pages 3-22
Women and Patenting in Nanotechnology: Scale, Scope and Equity....Pages 23-46
Potential Implications for Equity in the Nanotechnology Workforce in the U.S.....Pages 47-68
Exploring Societal Impact of Nanomedicine Using Public Value Mapping....Pages 69-88
Ableism and Favoritism for Abilities Governance, Ethics and Studies: New Tools for Nanoscale and Nanoscale-enabled Science and Technology Governance....Pages 89-104
i Will Go Further....Pages 105-106
Front Matter....Pages 107-107
Nanotechnology and the Extension and Transformation of Inequity....Pages 109-126
Nanotechnology and the Sixth Technological Revolution....Pages 127-143
Innovation, Growth, and Inequality: Plausible Scenarios of Wage Disparities in a World with Nanotechnologies....Pages 145-164
Metropolitan Development of Nanotechnology: Concentration or Dispersion?....Pages 165-180
The Role of Organized Workers in the Regulation of Nanotechnologies....Pages 181-198
ETUC Resolution on Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials....Pages 199-205
Front Matter....Pages 207-207
Materializing Nano Equity: Lessons from Design....Pages 209-230
Public Perceptions of Fairness in NBIC Technologies....Pages 231-249
Equity and Participation in Decisions: What Can Nanotechnology Learn from Biotechnology in Kenya?....Pages 251-269
Nanotechnology: How Prepared Is Uganda?....Pages 271-273
Front Matter....Pages 275-275
Nanotechnology and the Poor: Opportunities and Risks for Developing Countries....Pages 277-290
Science Policy and Social Inclusion: Advances and Limits of Brazilian Nanotechnology Policy....Pages 291-307
The Potential of Nanotechnology for Equitable Economic Development: The Case of Brazil....Pages 309-329
Open Access Nanotechnology for Developing Countries: Lessons from Open Source Software....Pages 331-347
Front Matter....Pages 275-275
Southern Roles in Global Nanotechnology Innovation: Perspectives from Thailand and Australia....Pages 349-378
How Can Nanotechnologies Fulfill the Needs of Developing Countries?....Pages 379-391
Technical Education and Indian Society: The Role of Values....Pages 393-406
Front Matter....Pages 407-407
Keeping the Dream Alive: What ELSI-Research Might Learn from Parliamentary Technology Assessment....Pages 409-421
Nanotech Ethics and the Policymaking Process: Lessons Learned for Advancing Equity and Equality in Emerging Nanotechnologies....Pages 423-432
Building Equity and Equality into Nanotechnology....Pages 433-446
Back Matter....Pages 447-457
