Rethinking Science as a Vocation: One Hundred Years of Bureaucratization of Academic Science

2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110260
Author(s):  
You-Na Lee ◽  
John P. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Science Policies

One hundred years ago, in his lecture Science as a Vocation, Max Weber prefigured a transition from science as a calling to science as bureaucratically organized work. He argued that a calling for science is critical for sustaining scientific work. Using Weber’s arguments for science as a vocation as a lens, in this paper, we discuss whether a calling for science may become difficult to maintain in increasingly bureaucratized scientific work and also whether such a calling is necessary for the advance of science. We present empirical evidence for this bureaucratization of scientific work and further develop Weber’s discussion of science by contrasting it with the views of other theorists of science and innovation. Finally, we discuss the implications of these theories, develop a set of policy recommendations, and outline a research agenda designed to develop science policies and a sociology of science that match this shift from vocation to bureaucracy in scientific work.

Psychedelic science as cosmic play, psychedelic humanities as perennial polemics? Or why we are still fighting over Max Weber’sScience as a Vocation

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-289
Author(s):  
Nicolas Langlitz
Keyword(s):  
Science Studies ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
Epistemic Virtue ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Anthropological Fieldwork

If it was indeed the fate of scientific work to become obsolete within 10–15 years, as Max Weber contended in Science as a Vocation, why does the Journal of Classical Sociology publish this article a century after publication of his famous lecture? Departing from anthropological fieldwork on the revival of psychedelic science since the 1990s, the author gives two answers. First, Weber provided a historically and culturally situated ideal type of vocational science with which we can compare and contrast the ethos of early twenty-first century scientists. The Swiss neuroscientist Franz X. Vollenweider, for example, defied the stern Protestantism of Weber’s vocational humanity and inferred from an amalgamation of psychedelic experiences and Hindu philosophemes a conception of science as play. Second, Weber not only contributed to the historical sociology of science an empirical description and conceptual analysis of turn-of-the-century scientific life in Germany and the United States but also unleashed a polemic against the confusion of facts and values. At a time when science studies and cognate fields of social research have formed a widespread consensus regarding the inseparability of description and prescription, Science as a Vocation has become a classic that offers orientation to opponents and supporters of value freedom alike. The article concludes with a plea to scholars in the nascent psychedelic humanities, which could easily be extended to anyone working between the two cultures of the sciences and the humanities, to cultivate value freedom as part of an epistemic virtue ethics.

Children, Risks, and the Mobile Internet

2015 ◽  
pp. 1409-1418
Author(s):  
Giovanna Mascheroni ◽  
Leslie Haddon
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Mobile Internet ◽  
Internet Studies ◽  
New Research

This article examines young people's use of smartphones, with a particular focus on opportunities and risks related to the mobile internet. Drawing on a review of mobile phones literature and internet studies, the article examines the emergence of a new research agenda in the study of children and mobile communication and outlines relevant empirical evidence of changes associated with smartphones.

scholarly journals Shadow Economy in Tourism: Some Conceptual Considerations from Croatia

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Kesar ◽  
Katarina Čuić
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Shadow Economy ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Adverse Impacts ◽  
Methodological Approaches

Abstract Although the importance of tourism for the Croatian economy is widely recognized and well documented, the issues related to the existence of shadow economy in tourism are not yet fully investigated and resolved. In spite of many attempts to estimate the size and impacts of shadow economy in tourism, there is still much controversy regarding the scope of the research area and the appropriateness of methodological approaches used to quantify this complex phenomenon. The present study aimed to (1) summarize the existing body of empirical evidence related to the shadow economy in tourism, with special reference to the case of Croatia, and to (2) shed some more light on additional aspects and variables which have been found to be important determinants for better understanding of the nature of the shadow economy in tourism. In order to reduce the adverse impacts of the shadow economy in tourism, some policy recommendations are suggested.

scholarly journals The scientization of the world polity: International organizations and the production of scientific knowledge, 1950–2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Zapp
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Scientific Output ◽  
Scientific Activity ◽  
Organizational Diversity ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Nutrition Research

While recent concepts from the sociology of science stress novel sites of knowledge production (e.g. government, industry), they ignore international organizations’ (IOs) growing research capacity. Conversely, prevailing theories of IOs stress their regulative and normative influence in national policymaking, equally neglecting their scientific work. Using bibliometric data for a large sample of 1325 international organizations, this work examines, for the first time, the evolution of scientific output from international intergovernmental research organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in the period 1950–2015. The analysis finds a striking increase in scientific activity since the late 1980s and particularly since the early 2000s across organizational types, sectors (e.g. law, nutrition), research fields (e.g. life science, social sciences), output formats (e.g. articles, books), and geographic areas. Indeed, some of these organizations are among the most productive science producers worldwide. Additional analyses of IOs’ research collaborations suggest strong cross-organizational diversity reflecting wider trends of scientific internationalization and integration. The article argues that IOs’ scientization requires a thorough revision of theories of institutional change in science and research systems and of theories about the nature and role of IOs. These organizations reflect, and, indeed, spearhead, wider trends of the rationalization of social order and evidence-based global governance.

scholarly journals Coping with Asymmetries in the Commons: Self-Governing Irrigation Systems Can Work

1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elinor Ostrom ◽  
Roy Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Irrigation System ◽  
Logical Consequence ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Common Pool Resource ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Perverse Incentives ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The Government

Many analysts presume that the appropriators of a common-pool resource are trapped in a Hobbesian state of nature and cannot themselves create rules to counteract the perverse incentives they face in managing the resource. The logical consequence of this view is to recommend that an external authority—"the" government—take over the commons. But considerable empirical evidence from field and experimental settings holds that appropriators frequently do constitute and enforce their own rules, and that these rules work. Our research agenda is to develop a coherent understanding of the set of conditions that enhance or detract from self-organizing capabilities when individuals differ substantially from one another. For the sake of concreteness, this paper focuses on the asymmetry present in most irrigation systems between those who are physically near the source of water (the head-enders) and those who are physically distant from it (the tail-enders). This paper first explores the interaction between head-end and tail-end farmers, particularly their decisions about whether to devote resources to the upkeep of the irrigation system, and how bargaining between the parties can benefit all sides. Finally, we examine empirical evidence from a study of irrigation institutions in Nepal and discuss the broader practical significance of our findings.

Local Food Activity in Scotland: Empirical Evidence and Research Agenda

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1187-1205 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Watts ◽  
Philip Leat ◽  
Cesar Revoredo-Giha
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Local Food

scholarly journals Evaluating how we evaluate

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (17) ◽  
pp. 3285-3289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald D. Vale
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Work Force ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Scientific Productivity ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Accurate Picture ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Curriculum Vitae ◽  
The Way

Evaluation of scientific work underlies the process of career advancement in academic science, with publications being a fundamental metric. Many aspects of the evaluation process for grants and promotions are deeply ingrained in institutions and funding agencies and have been altered very little in the past several decades, despite substantial changes that have taken place in the scientific work force, the funding landscape, and the way that science is being conducted. This article examines how scientific productivity is being evaluated, what it is rewarding, where it falls short, and why richer information than a standard curriculum vitae/biosketch might provide a more accurate picture of scientific and educational contributions. The article also explores how the evaluation process exerts a profound influence on many aspects of the scientific enterprise, including the training of new scientists, the way in which grant resources are distributed, the manner in which new knowledge is published, and the culture of science itself.

scholarly journals Metadata accounts: Achieving data and evidence in scientific research

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 732-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S Mayernik
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Sociological Studies ◽  
Insight Into

‘Metadata’ has received a fraction of the attention that ‘data’ has received in sociological studies of scientific research. A neglect of ‘metadata’ reduces the attention on a number of critical aspects of scientific work processes, including documentary work, accountability relations, and collaboration routines. Metadata processes and products are essential components of the work needed to practically accomplish day-to-day scientific research tasks, and are central to ensuring that research findings and products meet externally driven standards or requirements. This article is an attempt to open up the discussion on and conceptualization of metadata within the sociology of science and the sociology of data. It presents ethnographic research of metadata creation within everyday scientific practice, focusing on how researchers document, describe, annotate, organize and manage their data, both for their own use and the use of researchers outside of their project. In particular, this article argues that the role and significance of metadata within scientific research contexts are intimately tied to the nature of evidence and accountability within particular social situations. Studying metadata can (1) provide insight into the production of evidence, that is, how something we might call ‘data’ becomes able to serve an evidentiary role, and (2) provide a mechanism for revealing what people in research contexts are held accountable for, and what they achieve accountability with.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Leng
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation

The Introduction makes a case for gendering the history of sexology; specifically it argues that focusing on women’s ideas facilitates a more complex understanding of sexology as a form of knowledge and power. It begins by introducing the key figures and exploring the kinds of political promise they saw in scientific knowledge. It then challenges the limits of Foucault’s highly influential analysis of sexology by contextualizing sexology’s emergence within the rise of the women’s movement in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century. Moreover, the Introduction draws on the sociology of science to reframe sexology as a field, and thus to argue that sexology was built and animated by a diverse range of actors with disparate investments in the creation of this knowledge. Finally, it discusses the limitations of women’s sexual scientific work and the ambivalent legacy it bequeathed.

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