The Social Studies of Science
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Robert Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Science as a social institution
• how science is organized and regulates itself
• emphasis on nature of relationships
• social aspects of production of knowledge
• no discussion about content or nature of knowledge
• knowledge blackboxed due to empirism & economical
metaphor
• scientific knowledge independent of scientific activity
Merton | Thomas Kuhn | SSK | SSP
science as a social community
• The Structure of Scientific Revolution (1962)
• scientific criteria not universal
• development of scientific knowledge as object of
sociological research
• external factors play a role in scientific choices
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
How are cognitive and social aspects of science related?
• obduracy of classification due to:
– normative value
– economic metaphor
• philosophy =/= sociology of
science
– science is social
– empirical & naturalistic
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Macro and Micro Sociological Analysis
• Macro: Edinburgh School
– Barnes, Bloor, Shapin
– ‘interest’ of relevant groups
• Micro: Bath School
– Collins
– Empirical Program of Relativism (EPOR)
• interpretative flexibility
• closure
• wider context
Classification of social and cognitive aspects
External
Internal
cognitive
social
-societal ideologies
-aims
-sc. As legitimation
-cultural influences
=============
-theory development
-methodology
-research programm
-problem definition
-conceptual frame
l-soc-econ. frame
l-soc-pol. interest
l-science policy
l-financial system
l============
l-professionalisation
l-institutionalisation
l-journals
l-associations
l-networks
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Sociology of Scientific Practice
• investigation of activities, judgements and
interpretations
• form of methodological internalism
– microscopic study
– ‘how’ over ‘why’ questions
– constructivist approach
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Sociology of Scientific Practice
• linguistic turn
– Latour & Woolgar
– process of persuasion
• Analysis of practical reasoning
– -Knorr-Cetina, Lynch
– analysis of scientific writing
• Discourse analysis
– Gilbert & Mulkay
– study of the organization of meaning
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Sociology of Scientific Practice
• Breakdown of classification scheme
• process of negotiation
• meaning of scientific observations and
interpretations are socially constructed through
contesting and modification
• scientific outcomes may depend on
– argumentative skills
– prestige
– material resources
Merton | Kuhn | SSK | SSP
Sociology of Scientific Practice
• Core of science is social because
– Process of persuasion
– contextual contingenties
• Breakdown of classification scheme
• But in transition from ‘scientists knowledge claim’ to
‘taken-for-granted fact’ we see construction of
classification scheme
• distinction between cognitive - social is result instead
of building blocks of the process of scientific inquiry