Book•
Science of Science and Reflexivity
01 Jan 2004-
TL;DR: Bourdieu's "Science of Science and Reflexivity" as mentioned in this paper argues that science is in danger of becoming a handmaiden to biotechnology, medicine, genetic engineering, and military research that it risks falling under the control of industrial corporations that seek to exploit it for monopolies and profit.
Abstract: Over the last four decades, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu produced one of the most imaginative and subtle bodies of social theory of the postwar era. When he died in 2002, he was considered to be a thinker on a par with Foucault, Barthes, and Lacan a public intellectual as influential to his generation as Sartre was to his. "Science of Science and Reflexivity" will be welcomed as a companion volume to Bourdieu's now seminal "An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology." In this posthumous work, Bourdieu declares that science is in danger of becoming a handmaiden to biotechnology, medicine, genetic engineering, and military research that it risks falling under the control of industrial corporations that seek to exploit it for monopolies and profit. Science thus endangered can become detrimental to mankind. The line between pure and applied science, therefore, must be subjected to intense theoretical scrutiny. Bourdieu's goals in "Science of Science and Reflexivity" are to identify the social conditions in which science develops in order to reclaim its objectivity and to rescue it from relativism and the forces that might exploit it. In the grand tradition of scientific reflections on science, Bourdieu provides a sociological analysis of the discipline as something capable of producing transhistorical truths; he presents an incisive critique of the main currents in the study of science throughout the past half century; and he offers a spirited defense of science against encroaching political and economic forces. A masterful summation of the principles underlying Bourdieu's oeuvre and a memoir of his own scientific journey, "Science of Science and Reflexivity" is a capstone to one of the most important and prodigious careers in the field of sociology."
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TL;DR: The results from a first stage of a wider research project on meritocracy and distributive preferences in Chile, which is based on 9 interviews with social science scholars whose research is related to these issues, show that researchers refer to merit and meritocracy not only departing from different definitions but also giving them contentious social relevance as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: espanolAunque la idea de meritocracia tiene gran presencia en la investigacion social, pocos estudios analizan y discuten este concepto. Esta nota de investigacion expone los resultados de la primera etapa de un proyecto mas amplio sobre meritocracia y preferencias redistributivas en Chile, con base en 9 entrevistas realizadas a academicos de ciencias sociales cuya investigacion se relaciona con estos temas. Los resultados muestran que los expertos refieren al merito y la meritocracia no solo utilizando distintas definiciones, sino tambien otorgandole distinta relevancia social. Asimismo, el esfuerzo adquiere mayor valoracion que el talento, que inversamente aparece mas desarrollado en la literatura internacional. Los resultados son discutidos considerando el contexto socio-cultural chileno, caracterizado por una rapida modernizacion neoliberal y una alta desigualdad economica. EnglishAlthough the idea of meritocracy is widely present in social research, few studies analyze and discuss this concept. This research note shows the results from a first stage of a wider research project on meritocracy and distributive preferences in Chile, which is based on 9 interviews with social science scholars whose research is related to these issues. Findings show that researchers refer to merit and meritocracy not only departing from different definitions but also giving them contentious social relevance. Furthermore, effort takes precedence over talent, a more developed dimension in international research. The results are discussed taking the Chilean socio-cultural context into account, characterized by rapid neoliberal modernization as well as high economic inequality.
1 citations
Cites background from "Science of Science and Reflexivity"
...This facilitates the understanding of the conditions under which scientific knowledge about merit and meritocracy has been produced, including the views of researchers and their ways of approaching the social reality (Mauthner & Doucet, 2003; Bourdieu, 2004)....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors explores the problem of reflexivity by critically examining Bourdieu's reflexive sociology and argues that it cannot contribute to sociologists attaining symbolic power even if it might help the sociological field to be autonomous.
Abstract: The article explores the problem of reflexivity by critically examining Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology. The distinctiveness of his reflexive sociology lies in the relationships between reflexivity and scientificity. I am interested in how reflexive sociology makes sociology scientific and objective. First, I present the relationships among autonomy, objectivity and symbolic power by summarizing his sociology of science. Second, while presenting his reflexive sociology, I argue that it cannot contribute to sociologists’ attaining symbolic power even if it might help the sociological field to be autonomous; he dismisses the fact that autonomy and symbolic power are different matters. Third, I attempt to shift the focus from the epistemic strategy to the social one for symbolically powerful sociology. Bridging institutions have two functions: making sociology authoritative by showing the problem-solving ability to the public and autonomous by screening external interventions.
1 citations
01 Jan 2020
TL;DR: Ausgangspunkt des vorliegenden Bandes war die Feststellung, dass das Feld der Macht einen der zentralen Begriffe der Soziologie Bourdieus darstellt, der in der bisherigen Rezeption jedoch eigentumlich unterbelichtet geblieben ist as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Ausgangspunkt des vorliegenden Bandes war die Feststellung, dass das Feld der Macht einen der zentralen Begriffe der Soziologie Bourdieus darstellt, der in der bisherigen Rezeption jedoch eigentumlich unterbelichtet geblieben ist Wir haben das Konzept daher zunachst in seinen unterschiedlichen Verwendungsweisen bei Bourdieu (Kapitel 2) und mit Blick auf seine Bedeutung und Anwendungsmoglichkeiten in der Elitenforschung (Kapitel 3) rekonstruiert Sodann wurden Vorschlage fur eine differenzierungstheoretische Modifikation des Konzepts gemacht (Kapitel 4) und Uberlegungen zu seiner Rolle im Kontext der Globalisierungsdebatte angestellt (Kapitel 5)
1 citations
01 Jan 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, Demeter introduces the main theoretical frameworks of the book, namely the Bourdieusian frame theory and the Wallersteinian world-system theory, and offers a much-needed complex model whereby geopolitical and societal inequalities as well as hegemonies could be properly analyzed in the world system of global knowledge production.
Abstract: In this chapter, Demeter introduces the main theoretical frameworks of the book, namely the Bourdieusian frame theory and the Wallersteinian world-system theory. Moreover, the author offers a much-needed complex model whereby geopolitical and societal inequalities as well as hegemonies could be properly analyzed in the world-system of global knowledge production. This unique model shows how international scholars collect and accumulate transnational academic capital by acquiring central degrees, credentials, research grants and power positions at the global academy. This chapter also shows that the hegemon structure of global knowledge production is a very complex one in which geopolitical hegemony (in the form of the rule of elite central institutions) is tightly interwoven with societal (class-based) stratification.
1 citations