What would a Bourdieuan sociology of scientific truth look like?

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung-Man Kim
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Theory Of Science ◽  
Collège De France ◽  
Social Logic ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Idealistic View

In his last lecture delivered at the Collège de France, Pierre Bourdieu criticizes relativist sociology of science for failing to capture the truly social logic of scientific practice and asserts that his argument of 30 years ago can still work as a corrective to the relativist sociology of science. However, Bourdieu's critics concur that his field theory of science is not only theoretically defunct but also empirically deficient. In this article, I do two things. First, after showing why, in Bourdieu's field theory of science, the distinction between the two explanatory categories deployed by the relativists dissolves, I argue that, contrary to the critics' claims, Bourdieu's field theory of science has the distinctively Bourdieuan elements that sharply distinguish it not only from the Mertonian/Habermasian idealistic view of science but also from that of relativist sociology of science. The second part of this article discusses a sociological study of scientific practice and indicates the way in which Bourdieu's theoretical arguments can be empirically substantiated.

scholarly journals Bourdieu’s Field Theory and Science Education: Possible Articulations and Appropriations

2021 ◽  
pp. e33830
Author(s):  
Luciana Massi ◽  
Gabriela Agostini ◽  
Matheus Monteiro Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Field Theories ◽  
Specific Capital ◽  
Research Studies

Based on contributions from the sociology of science in the field of Science Education, this article aims to explore and elucidate the concept of fields, formulated by Pierre Bourdieu, in the objects of study of this area. This theoretical study is structured in three parts, which are articulated throughout the text: a synthesis of the general and invariable principles of fields; an elaboration of an analogy between the different field theories (sociology and physics); a discussion about the appropriation of field theories in research studies on Science Education that use them. We discuss the field as a social space, the agents’ habitus, the positions in the field, disputes and interests, distribution of the specific capital, limits, boundaries, and the field autonomy. An interpretation of this complex Bourdieusian concept was defended, in a way to determine the limits of the field and their agents, based on how research has appropriated it. Therefore, a theoretical framework was advanced, coming up with the possible and effective articulations between Science Education and Bourdieu’ Sociology of Science.

scholarly journals Sociologia do conhecimento e da ciência: da sua emergência a Pierre Bourdieu

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Bandeira Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sociology Of Knowledge ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Max Scheler ◽  
Karl Mannheim ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Critical Notes

O presente artigo tem como principal objetivo demonstrar as características da Sociologia do Conhecimento – emergente nas primeiras décadas do século XX – e da Ciência, destacando os principais conceitos deste campo de estudo sociológico, a partir de Max Scheler, dando ênfase à Sociologia do Conhecimento de Karl Mannheim, à Sociologia da Ciência de Robert Merton e à Sociologia do Campo Científico de Pierre Bourdieu. Ademais, objetiva-se, com isso, tecer algumas críticas acerca da característica desinteressada da sociologia da ciência mertoniana, a partir da ideia bourdieusiana de que a ciência é um campo perpassado por intensos conflitos e tensões em torno dos monopólios de autoridade e do capital simbólico.Palavras-Chave: Sociologia do Conhecimento, Sociologia da Ciência, Robert Merton, Karl Mannheim, Pierre Bourdieu.The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate the characteristics of the Sociology of Knowledge - which emerged in the first decades of the twentieth century - as well as the ones of the Sociology of Science, highlighting the key concepts of the sociological study field, from Max Scheler, emphasizing  Karl Mannheim's Sociology of Knowledge, Robert Merton's Sociology of Science and Pierre Boudireu's Sociology of Scientific Field. Furthermore, it aims to make some critical notes about the uninterested trait of the Merton's Sociology of Science, from Bourdieu's perspective of science as a field interwined by strong conflicts and tensions surrounding the monopoly of authority and symbolic capitalKeywords: Sociology of Knowledge, Sociology of Science, Robert Merton, Karl Mannheim, Pierre Bourdieu.

scholarly journals Reflecting in/on field theory in practice

Tempo Social ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-217
Author(s):  
Michael Grenfell
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
Social Theorist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Object Reference

The article discuses the dimension of reflexivity within the work of the social theorist Pierre Bourdieu. It alludes to the provenance of Bourdieu’s theory of practice and the epistemology, which underpins it. Language is a key element in reflexivity, the article therefore outline’s Bourdieu approach to language and the significance it holds in the development of his key concepts, as well as the relationship between subject and object. Reference is made to the works of Habermas, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and others to offer a ground base in just what Bourdieusian reflexivity is and how it operates in practice. Phases and stages in methodology are referred to as well as how reflexivity should operate within them. Finally, the significance of the discussion is underlined with reference to consequent outcomes.

A VIOLÊNCIA SIMBÓLICA NA SOCIEDADE DO CANSAÇO DO SÉCULO XXI

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (46) ◽  
pp. 30-53
Author(s):  
Francisco Antonio Vieira Cordeiro ◽  
Reis Friede ◽  
Maria Geralda De Miranda
Keyword(s):  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Collège De France

Trata-se de uma narrativa e pesquisa bibliográfica sobre os conceitos de poder simbólico e violência simbólica para o filósofo francês, Pierre Bourdieu, que foi docente na École de Sociologie du Collège de France, confrontando com o conceito de sociedade do cansaço, do sul-coreano, radicado na Alemanha, Byung-Chul Han, filósofo e professor de Filosofia e Estudos Culturais na Universidade de Berlim. O artigo analisa esse poder praticamente imperceptível que se transmite por meio da comunicação e do discurso, mas que funciona como um instrumento político de manutenção das desigualdades sociais que são os instrumentos de coesão social para legitimar a dominação. O poder simbólico mascara uma violência invisível existente na sociedade pós-moderna do desempenho permissiva e pacífica, que induzem o indivíduo a se posicionar no espaço físico seguindo critérios e padrões do discurso dominante. Essa violência é exercida, em parte, com o consentimento de quem a sofre. A violência simbólica nem é percebida como violência, mas como uma espécie de interdição desenvolvida com base em um respeito que se exerce de um para com o outro. Nessa sociedade, o indivíduo perdeu a capacidade de mergulhar num ócio criativo e, em lugar da coação estranha, surge a auto coação, uma violência autogerada, que é mais fatal do que a outra, pois a vítima imagina ser alguém livre. A coação pelo desempenho força-o a produzir cada vez mais, sem alcançar um ponto de repouso. Ele está cansado, esgotado de si mesmo, de lutar consigo mesmo. A pressão exercida sobre o sujeito traz consigo o desenvolvimento de doenças neuronais como a depressão, o transtorno de déficit de atenção, a síndrome de hiperatividade e a síndrome de burnout, representando a paisagem patológica do começo do século XXI.

Bourdieu’s Rationalist Science of Science: Some Promises and Limitations

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Sismondo
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Evolutionary Epistemology ◽  
Science Of Science ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Political Economies

At several points over his career, Pierre Bourdieu articulated a framework for a sociology of science, derived mostly from a priori reasoning about scientific actors in competition for capital. This article offers a brief overview of Bourdieu’s framework, placing it in the context of dominant trends in Science and Technology Studies. Bourdieu provides an excellent justification for the project of the sociology of science, and some starting points for analysis. However, his framework suffers from his commitment to a vague evolutionary epistemology, and from his correlative and surprising neglect of science’s habituses, with their particular practices, boundaries, and political economies. To be productive, Bourdieu’s sociology of science would have to abandon its narrow rationalism and embrace the material complexity of the sciences.

scholarly journals Three Aspects of the Phenomenon of Science: In Search for Unity among Sociologists

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
N. G. Popova ◽  
E. V. Biricheva ◽  
T. A. Beavitt
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Diverse Field ◽  
Object Of Study

Introduction. In today’s globalising world, science acquires a crucial importance: integrating humanity within the framework of solving global problems, it becomes one of the leading factors in social development, facilitating work and diversifying leisure time, as well as serving as an instrument of transformations in the political sphere. Undoubtedly, the social aspects of contemporary science are capturing the attention of a huge number of researchers. However, it is not clear that all areas of the sociology of science treat the object of their study in the same way.Aim. A lack of reflection on the unity or otherwise in the understanding of the essence of science in the various fields of sociological research makes it difficult to compare different theories of the institutional, cultural, social and communicative contexts of scientific development. An urgent methodological task therefore consists in developing an understanding of the various definitions of the concept of “science” used in the framework of contemporary sociological analysis of this phenomenon.Results and scientific novelty. In this paper, two dominant sociological views on science – as an experimental-mathematical approach to cognising the world and as a system of representations in general – are compared. We conclude that while researchers studying institutional aspects of science tend to interpret it in terms of the “heritage” of post-Enlightenment European rationalism, constructionist and communicatively-oriented researchers tend to approach science as the system of knowledge and cognition that is formed in any human society, having its own specific sociocultural features in each respective case. While each of these two approaches undoubtedly has its own methodological potential, in order to provide such a diverse field of studies with a common ground, it would be necessary to balance them with a third aspect. We argue that this balancing role, since both common for all mankind and unique for every culture, could be played by Heidegger’s conceptualisation of science as “the theory of the real”.Practical significance. In order to avoid a pluralism of incompatible theories, it is important to continually pose the question “what is the object of study when conducting a sociological study of various scientific phenomena?” – as well as to understand the “limits of applicability” of the particular interpretation of science on which basis sociological analysis proceeds.

scholarly journals As contribuições da Sociologia para o desenvolvimento da História Intelectual * The contributions of Sociology to the development of Intellectual History

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
MARCOS SORRILHA PINHEIRO
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Analytical Procedure ◽  
Pierre Bourdieu ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Charles Tilly ◽  
Raymond Williams

<p class="Default"><strong>Resumo: </strong>A história intelectual constitui-se como uma modalidade investigativa com vistas à produção de um conhecimento capaz de apreender aspectos amplos da vida intelectual e política de uma sociedade. Justamente por não ser uma teoria historiográfica, não possui conceitos próprios de análise, deixando espaço para a incorporação de elementos externos. Neste artigo, elencaremos alguns empréstimos teóricos feitos pela história junto à sociologia na elaboração de métodos de pesquisa da história intelectual, dando especial atenção a três sociólogos e conceitos: Raymond Williams e a concepção de grupos de cultura; Pierre Bourdieu e a teoria dos campos e <em>habitus</em>; Charles Tilly e os repertórios políticos. Além desses, nos ateremos à explicação do conceito de Cultura Política proposta por Gabriel Almond e Sidney Verba.</p><p class="Default"><strong>Palavras-chave: </strong>História Intelectual e Sociologia; Cultura Política; repertórios; grupos de cultura; Teoria dos Campos e <em>Habitus. </em></p><p class="Default"><strong><br /></strong></p><p class="Default"><strong>Abstract: </strong>The intellectual history is constituted as an analytical procedure with the objective of producing knowledge capable of recognizing a broad political aspect of the society and intellectual life. Just for not being a historiographical theory, this type of research has no own analytical concepts, leaving open space for the incorporation of external elements. In this article we will list a few loans taken by history with the sociology for the development of research methods of intellectual history, giving special attention to three sociologists and their concepts: Raymond Williams and the conception of culture groups; Pierre Bourdieu and the field theory and habitus; and Charles Tilly and the political repertoires. Besides these, we will dedicate attention to the explanation of the concept of political culture proposed by Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba.</p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Intellectual History and Sociology; Political Culture; repertories; culture groups; Field Theory and <em>Habitus</em>

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