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Sociology of scientific knowledge



 
 
The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), closely related to the sociology of science
Sociology of science

Sociology of science is the subfield of sociology that deals with the practice of science.Generally speaking, the sociology of science involves the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing "with the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." It has histori...
, considers social influences on science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
. Practitioners include Barry Barnes
Barry Barnes

S. Barry Barnes is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter. Barnes worked at the 'Science Studies Unit' at the University of Edinburgh with David Bloor in the 1980s and early 1990s, where they developed the strong programme in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge....
, David Bloor
David Bloor

'David Bloor' is a professor in, and a former director of, the at the University of Edinburgh .He started his academic career in philosophy and psychology....
, Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard

Gaston Bachelard was a France philosopher who rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy. His most important work is on poetics and on the philosophy of science....
, Paul Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend

Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades ....
, Elihu M. Gerson, Thomas Kuhn, Martin Kusch
Martin Kusch

Martin Kusch is Professor of Philosophy and Sociology of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University....
, Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour is a France sociology of science, Anthropology and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies . After teaching at the ?cole des Mines de Paris from 1982 to 2006, he is now Professor and vice-president for research at the Institut d'?tudes politiques de Paris , where he is associated with the Centre d...
, Susan Leigh Star, Anselm Strauss
Anselm Strauss

Anselm L. Strauss was an United States sociology internationally known as a medical sociologist and as the developer of grounded theory, an innovative method of qualitative analysis widely used in sociology, nursing, education, social work, and organizational studies....
, Lucy Suchman
Lucy Suchman

Lucy Suchman is Professor of Anthropology of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. Before coming to Lancaster, she held the positions of Principal Scientist and manager of the Work Practice and Technology area at Xerox's Xerox PARC....
, Harry Collins
Harry Collins

Harry Collins is a professor at the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. While at the University of Bath Professor Collins developed the Bath School approach to the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge....
, and others.

These thinkers (sociologists
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
, philosophers of science
Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science. The field is defined by an interest in one of a set of "traditional" problems or an interest in central or foundational concerns in science....
, historians of science
History of science

Science is a body of empirical knowledge, theory, and Procedural knowledge knowledge about the Nature, produced by a global community of researchers making use of scientific methods, which emphasize the observation, experimentation and scientific explanation of real world phenomenon....
, anthropologists
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 and computer scientists
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
) have engaged in controversy concerning the role that social factors play in scientific development relative to rational
Rationality

Rationality as a term is related to the idea of reason, a word which following Webster's may be derived as much from older terms referring to thinking itself as from giving an account or an explanation....
, empirical
Empirical

The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment, as opposed to theory. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or Logical consequence that are observable by the senses....
, and other factors.

SSK basically exploits the history and sociology of science, it consists of studying the development of a scientific field, and identfying points of contingency or interpretative flexibility, where at time, ambiguities are present.






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The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), closely related to the sociology of science
Sociology of science

Sociology of science is the subfield of sociology that deals with the practice of science.Generally speaking, the sociology of science involves the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing "with the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." It has histori...
, considers social influences on science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
. Practitioners include Barry Barnes
Barry Barnes

S. Barry Barnes is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter. Barnes worked at the 'Science Studies Unit' at the University of Edinburgh with David Bloor in the 1980s and early 1990s, where they developed the strong programme in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge....
, David Bloor
David Bloor

'David Bloor' is a professor in, and a former director of, the at the University of Edinburgh .He started his academic career in philosophy and psychology....
, Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard

Gaston Bachelard was a France philosopher who rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy. His most important work is on poetics and on the philosophy of science....
, Paul Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend

Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades ....
, Elihu M. Gerson, Thomas Kuhn, Martin Kusch
Martin Kusch

Martin Kusch is Professor of Philosophy and Sociology of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University....
, Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour is a France sociology of science, Anthropology and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies . After teaching at the ?cole des Mines de Paris from 1982 to 2006, he is now Professor and vice-president for research at the Institut d'?tudes politiques de Paris , where he is associated with the Centre d...
, Susan Leigh Star, Anselm Strauss
Anselm Strauss

Anselm L. Strauss was an United States sociology internationally known as a medical sociologist and as the developer of grounded theory, an innovative method of qualitative analysis widely used in sociology, nursing, education, social work, and organizational studies....
, Lucy Suchman
Lucy Suchman

Lucy Suchman is Professor of Anthropology of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. Before coming to Lancaster, she held the positions of Principal Scientist and manager of the Work Practice and Technology area at Xerox's Xerox PARC....
, Harry Collins
Harry Collins

Harry Collins is a professor at the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. While at the University of Bath Professor Collins developed the Bath School approach to the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge....
, and others.

These thinkers (sociologists
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
, philosophers of science
Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science. The field is defined by an interest in one of a set of "traditional" problems or an interest in central or foundational concerns in science....
, historians of science
History of science

Science is a body of empirical knowledge, theory, and Procedural knowledge knowledge about the Nature, produced by a global community of researchers making use of scientific methods, which emphasize the observation, experimentation and scientific explanation of real world phenomenon....
, anthropologists
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
 and computer scientists
Computer science

Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems....
) have engaged in controversy concerning the role that social factors play in scientific development relative to rational
Rationality

Rationality as a term is related to the idea of reason, a word which following Webster's may be derived as much from older terms referring to thinking itself as from giving an account or an explanation....
, empirical
Empirical

The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment, as opposed to theory. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or Logical consequence that are observable by the senses....
, and other factors.

SSK basically exploits the history and sociology of science, it consists of studying the development of a scientific field, and identfying points of contingency or interpretative flexibility, where at time, ambiguities are present. Having identified such branch points, the researcher then seeks to explain why one interpretation rather than another succeeded.

Programmes and schools

David Bloor
David Bloor

'David Bloor' is a professor in, and a former director of, the at the University of Edinburgh .He started his academic career in philosophy and psychology....
 has contrasted the so-called weak programme (or 'program' — either spelling is used) which merely gives social explanations for erroneous beliefs, with what he called the strong programme, which considers sociological factors as influencing all beliefs.

The weak programme is more of a description of an approach than an organised movement. The term is applied to historians, sociologists and philosophers of science who merely cite sociological factors as being responsible for those beliefs that went wrong. Imre Lakatos
Imre Lakatos

Imre Lakatos was a philosopher of Philosophy of mathematics and Philosophy of science, most famous today worldwide for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations', and also for introducing the concept of the 'research programme' in his methodology of scientific research programmes....
 and (in some moods) Thomas Kuhn might be said to adhere to it.

The strong programme is particularly associated with the work of two groups: the Edinburgh School (David Bloor
David Bloor

'David Bloor' is a professor in, and a former director of, the at the University of Edinburgh .He started his academic career in philosophy and psychology....
 and his colleagues of the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom....
), and the Bath School (Harry Collins
Harry Collins

Harry Collins is a professor at the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. While at the University of Bath Professor Collins developed the Bath School approach to the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge....
 and others formerly from the Science Studies Unit at the University of Bath
University of Bath

The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, Somerset, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1966. The University has established a strong reputation in teaching and research, being consistently placed as one of the top elite universities in national university league tables....
). This association is of course wrong as 'Edinburgh sociologists' and 'Bath sociologists' have different programmes- the Strong Programme and Empirical Programme of Relativism (EPOR) respectively. In addition discourse analysis (associated with Michael Mulkay at the University of York) and reflexivity (associated with Malcolm Ashmore at Loughborough University) are often taken to be major strands of the programme. This is also wrong as it is a conflation of different approaches to the study of scientific knowledge.

The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) has major international networks through its principal associations, 4S and EASST, with recently established groups in South Korea, Japan, and Latin America. It has made major contributions in recent years to a critical analysis of the biosciences and informatics.

Sokal affair

Sociology of scientific knowledge became increasingly the subject of discussions in the academic world in the 1990s after the publication of a hoax paper by Alan Sokal
Alan Sokal

Alan David Sokal is a professor of mathematics at University College London and professor of physics at New York University. He works in statistical mechanics and combinatorics....
 in the journal Social Text
Social Text

Social Text is a Postmodernism cultural studies journal published by Duke University Press.The journal gained notoriety in 1996 for the so-called Sokal Affair when it published an article by the physicist Alan Sokal entitled ""....
, under the title Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity. The ensuing debate (the Sokal affair
Sokal Affair

The Sokal affair was a hoax by physics Alan Sokal perpetrated on the editorial staff and readership of the postmodern cultural studies journal Social Text ....
) led to SSK thinkers being accused of "relativism
Relativism

Relativism is the idea that some elements or aspects of experience or culture are relative to, i.e., dependent on, other elements or aspects.Common statements that might be considered relativistic include...
"--a charge that at least some proponents of the view embrace. The 'relativism' prevalent within SSK, especially in the work of 'strong sociologists' such as Barry Barnes and David Bloor may be regarded as a misnomer even though these sociologists themselves assent to the label. This is because strong sociology/ the strong programme does not deny the existence of a human-independent reality. Neither does it affirm that all knowledge claims are 'really true' just because the relevant community accepts them as true. The position of strong sociology is that sociologically interesting knowledge i.e. institutionalised forms of knowledge are human products even when they have been formulated as a result of interaction with a human-independent physical world as is the case in the so-called natural sciences. Such sociologically interesting knowledge is not given with the physical world but is a product of group/social processes. Passively observing the world will not convince 'rational' individuals to assent to such knowledge.

Criticism

SSK has received criticism from the French school called Actor-network theory
Actor-network theory

Actor-network theory, often abbreviated as ANT, is a distinctive approach to social theory and research which originated in the field of science studies....
 (ANT) which belongs to the research field called Science and Technology Studies
Science and technology studies

Science and technology studies is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn affect society, politics, and culture....
. The main theorists in the ANT-school are Michel Callon
Michel Callon

Michel Callon is a Professor of Sociology at the Ecole des Mines de Paris and member of the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation. He is an influential author in the field of Science and Technology Studies and one of the leading proponents of Actor-network theory with Bruno Latour....
, Bruno Latour
Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour is a France sociology of science, Anthropology and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies . After teaching at the ?cole des Mines de Paris from 1982 to 2006, he is now Professor and vice-president for research at the Institut d'?tudes politiques de Paris , where he is associated with the Centre d...
 and John Law
John Law (sociologist)

John Law is a sociologist currently on the faculty at Lancaster University and key proponent of Actor-network theory. Actor-network theory, sometimes abbreviated to ANT is a social science approach for describing and explaining social, organisational, scientific and technological structures, processes and events....
. SSK has been criticised for sociological reductionism and a human centered universe. SSK is said to rely too heavily on human actors and social rules and conventions settling scientific controversies. The ANT-school, instead, proposes that non-human actors (actants) play an integral role. For example instruments, measurement scales, laboratories and so forth have the unintentional capacities of closing a scientific controversy. This debate is widely discussed in the article Epistemological Chicken. These criticisms can be seen as rather misdirected since the strong programme does not deny the influence of the physical universe in the formulation of knowledge but takes it for granted. What the strong programme seems to stress, however, is that the knowledge that human beings acquire does not come straight from nature to the human mind unfiltered. What we call knowledge is a product of sensations from physical world mixed up with and transformed by the socially recognised ways of interpreting those sensations. The argument of the strong programme seems to be that these ways of interpreting what comes through our sense organs is not given with the physical world but socially constructed by groups of human beings interacting with each other. Whilst the physical world is not socially constructed, our knowledge of the physical world is in this sense socially constructed. The physical universe does not reduce to sociology or just human interaction so an allegation of sociological reductionism does not seem to be well aimed. Instruments, measurement scales, laboratories, nature and so forth, therefore, do not have the capacities of closing scientific controversies by themselves. They must be seen or interpreted as doing so by human beings in interaction. This seems to be what David Bloor of the strong programme says in his article Anti-Latour in response to criticisms.

See also

  • Sociology of knowledge
    Sociology of knowledge

    The Sociology of Knowledge is the study of the relationship between human thought and the social context within which it arises, and of the effects prevailing ideas have on societies....
  • Science and technology studies
    Science and technology studies

    Science and technology studies is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn affect society, politics, and culture....
  • Social constructionism
    Social constructionism

    Social constructionism and social constructivism are Sociological theory of knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in social contexts....
  • Historiography of science
    Historiography of science

    The historiography of science usually refers to the study of History of Science in its disciplinary aspects and practices and to the study of its own historical development ....
  • Scientific Community Metaphor
    Scientific community metaphor

    In computer science, the Scientific Community Metaphor is a metaphor used to aid understanding scientific community. The first publications on the Scientific Community Metaphor in 1981 and 1982 involved the development of a programming language named Ether that invoked procedural plans to process goals and assertions concurrently by dynamica...


For a recent sourcebook see:

  • Jasanoff, S. Markle, G. Pinch T. & Petersen, J. (Eds)(2002), Handbook of science, technology and society, Rev Ed.. London: Sage.


Other relevant materials