The Professional Quest for Truth
A Social Theory of Science and Knowledge
Will be published approx. on 1. July 1992
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-0-7914-0923-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book argues that the power of science as the most respected and authoritative world view is based on its superior material and organizational resources, not on its superior rationality. Fuchs approaches science as a social construct, and utilizing a theory of scientific organizations, he analyzes knowledge production in scientific fields-how they differ in their resources and how these differences affect how science is conducted. The book explains why certain fields produce science and facts, while others engage in hermeneutics and conversation; why certain specialities change through cumulation rather than fragmentation; and why some fields are relativistic while others are positivist in their self-understanding. This general theory of knowledge is applicable not only to science, but to all varieties of professional groups engaged in knowledge production.
Reviews / Votes
"Fuchs shows how scientific activity, revealed in micro-detail, is embedded in particular kinds of organizational contexts; that the research methods and social structures of interaction in scientific communities affect the degree of uncertainty of scientists' activities; and the kind of discourse they engage in."Fuchs ends up with both a general theory of the determinants of scientific production, and with a challenge to the current factions in the sociology of ideas and sociology of culture generally." - Randall Collins, University of California, Riverside.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Albany, NY
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-0923-7 (9780791409237)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Stephan Fuchs is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire, Durham.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Preface
by Randall Collins
Chapter 1: Toward a Theory of Scientific Organizations
Chapter 2: The New Sociology of Science: Philosophical and Sociological Backgrounds
Epistemological Critique
The Issues of Relativism and Reflexivity
The Strong Program: Entering the Black Box of Scientific Rationality
Chapter 3: Microsocial Studies of Science: The Empirical Evidence
Facts
Controversies and Closures
Textuality
Textual Agents
Nontextual Agents
Laboratories
Property
Chapter 4: How Social are Social Studies of Science
The Idiosyncratic Nature of Scientific Production
The Social Dynamics of Fact Production
Mundane and Scientific Knowledge
Controversies as Normal Accidents
Chapter 5: The Technological Paradigm in Organizational Theory
Woodward's Structural Types of Technology and Organization
Perrow's Early Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis
Thompson's Technological Interdependence Types
Perrow's Later Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis
Lawrence and Lorsch's Environmental Model of Organizational Structure
Control Theory
Current Debates in Organizational Theory
Chapter 6: Some Comparative Observations on Science and the Professions
Task Uncertainty and Stratification
Mutual Dependence and Professional Workstyles
Science and Art: An Organizational Comparison
Organizational Control in Modern Literature
The Postmodern Equation of Science and Literature
Chapter 7: A Theory of Scientific Production
Resource Concentration
Reputational Autonomy
Mutual Dependence, Heterogeneity, and Coordination Problems
Size, Competition, and Change
Cumulation
Specialization
Fragmentation
Migration
Task Uncertainty
Bureaucratization of Control
Chapter 8: Hermeneutics as Deprofessionalization
The Interpretive Paradigm in Sociology
The Paradox of Interpretive Methodology
Hermeneutics as Organizational Structure
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index (Compiled by John Herrmann)
Acknowledgments
Preface
by Randall Collins
Chapter 1: Toward a Theory of Scientific Organizations
Chapter 2: The New Sociology of Science: Philosophical and Sociological Backgrounds
Epistemological Critique
The Issues of Relativism and Reflexivity
The Strong Program: Entering the Black Box of Scientific Rationality
Chapter 3: Microsocial Studies of Science: The Empirical Evidence
Facts
Controversies and Closures
Textuality
Textual Agents
Nontextual Agents
Laboratories
Property
Chapter 4: How Social are Social Studies of Science
The Idiosyncratic Nature of Scientific Production
The Social Dynamics of Fact Production
Mundane and Scientific Knowledge
Controversies as Normal Accidents
Chapter 5: The Technological Paradigm in Organizational Theory
Woodward's Structural Types of Technology and Organization
Perrow's Early Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis
Thompson's Technological Interdependence Types
Perrow's Later Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis
Lawrence and Lorsch's Environmental Model of Organizational Structure
Control Theory
Current Debates in Organizational Theory
Chapter 6: Some Comparative Observations on Science and the Professions
Task Uncertainty and Stratification
Mutual Dependence and Professional Workstyles
Science and Art: An Organizational Comparison
Organizational Control in Modern Literature
The Postmodern Equation of Science and Literature
Chapter 7: A Theory of Scientific Production
Resource Concentration
Reputational Autonomy
Mutual Dependence, Heterogeneity, and Coordination Problems
Size, Competition, and Change
Cumulation
Specialization
Fragmentation
Migration
Task Uncertainty
Bureaucratization of Control
Chapter 8: Hermeneutics as Deprofessionalization
The Interpretive Paradigm in Sociology
The Paradox of Interpretive Methodology
Hermeneutics as Organizational Structure
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index (Compiled by John Herrmann)