Flexible Interpretations of “Acid Rain” and the Construction of Scientific Uncertainty in Political Settings

1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Zehr
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Acid Rain ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Interpretative Flexibility

Much research in social studies of science addresses scientists' interpretative flexibility in the construction of scientific knowledge. This flexibility is readily visible among different scientists' competing knowledge-claims as well as in their accounts across different social settings. This article illustrates this process and discusses some of its implications through a case study of descriptions of acid rain in published scientific papers and Congressional testimony. As acid rain was flexibly reconstructed in Congressional testimony, its meanings and implications for control legislation became more contested. Some descriptions of acid rain that were intended to usefully clarify the phenomenon actually contributed to an impression of scientific uncertainty, and thereby further polarized debate.

Selective flows of knowledge in technoscientific interaction: information control in genome research

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN HILGARTNER
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Genome Research ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Interaction Information ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Ethnographic Approach

AbstractIn recent years, the selective flow of knowledge has emerged as an important topic in historical and social studies of science. Related questions about the production of ignorance have also captured attention under the rubric of agnotology. This paper focuses on information control in interaction, examining how actors seek to control the flow of scientific knowledge as they interact with others, either in face-to-face encounters or in modes of communication involving circulating documents, data, materials and other entities containing knowledge. The analysis uses an ethnographic approach to study how actors work to control which knowledge becomes available to whom, when, under what terms and conditions, and with what residual encumbrances. Secrecy, for example, is not framed as an isolated, sui generis phenomenon, nor as one side of a secrecy/openness dichotomy, nor even as a pole on a secrecy/openness continuum. Instead, the analysis explores how actors manage a dialectic of revelation and concealment through which knowledge is selectively made available and unavailable to others, often in the same act. The emphasis on selective revelation highlights partial transfers of knowledge, targeted distribution, matters of timing, and the rights and encumbrances that attach to knowledge at different points in its transit. Examples are drawn from genome research, a field marked by ongoing disputes about modes of information control.

scholarly journals Interests, Folk Psychology and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petri Ylikoski
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Folk Psychology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Sociology Of Scientific Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Way

This paper provides a conceptual analysis of the notion of interests as it is used in the social studies of science. After describing the theoretical background behind the Strong Program’s adoption of the concept of interest, the paper outlines a reconstruction of the everyday notion of interest and argues that the same notion is used also by the sociologists of scientific knowledge. However, there are a couple of important differences between the everyday use of this notion and the way in which it used by the sociologists. The sociologists do not use the term in evaluative context and they do not regard interests as purely non-epistemic factors. Finally it is argued that most of the usual critiques of interest explanations, by both philosophers and fellow sociologists, are misguided.

Sensing Race as a Ghost Variable in Science, Technology, and Medicine

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 763-778
Author(s):  
Katrina Karkazis ◽  
Rebecca Jordan-Young
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Hormone Levels ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Analytic Models

Ghost variables are variables in program languages that do not correspond to physical entities. This special issue, based on a panel on “Race as a Ghost Variable” at the 2017 Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, traces ideas of “race” in particular niches of science, technology, and medicine where it is submerged and disavowed, yet wields power. Each paper is a case study exploring ghosts that emerge through the resonance among things as heterogeneous as hair patterns, hormone levels, food tastes, drug use, clinic locations, proximity to disaster, job classifications, and social belonging and suspicion, all of which vibrate with meanings accumulated over long racial histories. Together, the papers further elaborate methods and analytic models for identifying the operations of race—the relations and processes that make it, the effects that it has. A chief appeal of the metaphor of the ghost is that it brings the importance of history to the fore. Ghosts are simultaneously history and the present, not just an accretion of earlier experiences, but the palimpsest left when one tries to erase them. Sometimes faint and hard to discern, sometimes rambunctious and disruptive, ghosts refuse our attempts to simply move on.

scholarly journals Textbook Economics: Zur Wissenschaftssoziologie eines wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Genres

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (164) ◽  
pp. 369-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanno Pahl
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Neoclassical Economics ◽  
Academic Socialization ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Introductory Textbooks ◽  
Important Object

Hanno Pahl: Textbook Economics: A Social Studies of Science Perspective. The paper arguesthat introductory textbooks in economics are an important object of inquiry. Althoughthe knowledge presented in this type of literature often does not cover the research frontiersof the discipline, economics textbooks are influential media of the external communicationof mainstream economics as well as agents of academic socialization on the inside. Therefore,they need to be analysed in terms of content and rhetorical strategies, a task that is notidentical with the general critique of neoclassical economics. A case study is undertaken toidentify symptomatic and problematic framings of the bodies of knowledge in three populartextbooks. The final section contextualizes the findings and poses further research questions.

scholarly journals Investigating Ethos and Pathos in Scientific Truth Claims in Public Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Simon
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rhetorical Patterns ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Scientific Competence ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Neonicotinoid Pesticides ◽  
Knowledge Claims

The article seeks to explore the role played by the rhetorical modes of ethos and pathos when scientific knowledge is constructed in public discourse. A case study is presented on the public debate in Germany on possible risks to bees from neonicotinoid pesticides, focusing especially on a detailed analysis of scientific knowledge claims found in texts produced by two lobbying groups involved. The findings indicate distinctive rhetorical patterns in the context of scientific truth claims realising, for example, appeals to concern and the display of scientific competence and integrity.

scholarly journals Género, ciencia y mujer=Gender, science and woman

2020 ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Yoilen Barreira Rodríguez ◽  
Cynthia Acevedo Rodríguez ◽  
Cheila Alfonso Alverdi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Technological Field ◽  
The University

<p class="margen05CxSpFirst"><strong><span>Resumen</span></strong></p><p class="margen05CxSpMiddle"><span>Los estudios sociales de ciencia y tecnología desde la perspectiva de género permiten una comprensión más integradora de la relación que se presume hoy entre hombres y mujeres, particularmente en el ámbito científico. La investigación <em>Género, ciencia y mujer</em> tiene como objetivo general analizar las relaciones de género en el ámbito científico-tecnológico en la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Cienfuegos. Para este propósito se utiliza la metodología cualitativa, a través del método del estudio de caso único. La novedad del estudio radica en que se aborda este fenómeno desde una concepción de análisis más integradora, lo que permite una mejor comprensión de las relaciones de poder que se establecen entre hombres y mujeres en el contexto universitario.</span></p><p class="margen05"><span class="tlid-translation"><strong><span lang="EN">Abstract</span></strong></span></p><p class="margen05"><span lang="EN"><span class="tlid-translation">Social studies of science and technology from a gender perspective allow a more integrative understanding of the presumed relationship between men and women nowadays, particularly in the scientific field. The research "Gender, science and women" aims to analyze "gender relations in the scientific-technological field at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Cienfuegos." For this purpose, the qualitative methodology is used, through the single case study method. The novelty of the study</span></span><span class="tlid-translation"><span lang="EN">lies in the fact that this phenomenon is approached from a more integrative conception of analysis, which allows a better understanding of the power relations established between men and women in the university context.</span></span></p>

Teaching Computing in a Multidisciplinary Way in Social Studies Classes in School – A Case Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Gresse Von Wangenheim ◽  
Nathalia Cruz Alves ◽  
Pedro Eurico Rodrigues ◽  
Jean Carlo Hauck
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Instructional Unit ◽  
Computing Education ◽  
Interest And Motivation

In order to be well-educated citizens in the 21st century, children need to learn computing in school. However, implementing computing education in schools faces several practical problems, such as lack of computing teachers and time in an already overloaded curriculum. A solution can be a multidisciplinary approach, integrating computing education within other subjects in the curriculum. The present study proposes an instructional unit for computing education in social studies classes, with students learning basic computing concepts by programming history related games using Scratch. The instructional unit is developed following an instructional design approach and is applied and evaluated through a case study in four classes (5th and 7th grade) with a total of 105 students at a school in (omitted for submission). Results provide a first indication that the instructional unit enables the learning of basic computing concepts (specifically programming) in an efficient, effective and entertaining way increasing also the interest and motivation of students to learn computing.

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