Theory and Practice

The relationship between theory and practice is central to science and technology studies - in many ways the field was started in an attempt to dispute representations of this relationship that were too fixed, too neatly delineated, too self-satisfied. Too often, accounts of scientific and technological developments rested on a description of the process as a linear movement from theoretical insight, through experimental testing and to final implementation. The claim of STS was that there is more going on here than a simple movement from theory to practice, from laboratory to invention, from idea to execution. Rather, more can be gained from paying attention to the actual movement back and forth between our ideas of the world and how the world operates – things may be more complex than they seem. This issue of NJSTS features three articles which, while topically different, offer an illustration of the knotty relationship between theory and practice.