Affective Labor in Integrative STS Research

Branch, T. Y.; Duché, G. M.

Abstract

Science and technology studies (STS) practitioners regularly use qualitative research methods to describe the structures and practices of science. Despite a long history of collaborative inter- and transdisciplinary research in the field, key aspects of this type of research remain underexplored. For example, much of the literature on positionality has focused on the vulnerable position of participants and there is considerably less work on how investigators can be vulnerable. We examine how investigators in collaborative sociotechnical integration (CSTI) are vulnerable by presenting two examples of CSTI research that require researcher vulnerability. This vulnerability has an emotional dimension, which also necessitates affective labor. We integrate recommendations from feminist-scholarship to minimize the affective cost to investigators and explore how they might apply to qualitative research more broadly.

Citation

Branch, T. Y., & Duché, G. M. (2024). Affective Labor in Integrative STS Research. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 49(1), 131-150. https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439221143804

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 31, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 8, 2022
• Publication Date: 2024-01
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 4, 2023
• Journal: Science, Technology, & Human Values
• Print ISSN: 0162-2439
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-8251
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 131-150
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439221143804
• Keywords: affective labor, integrative research, STS, collaborative sociotechnical integration
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1184379