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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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26 Oct 2017
TL;DR: Harambam as mentioned in this paper explored the meanings of conspiracy theories in the Dutch conspiracy milieu and sociologically explained why conspiracy theories have such an appeal for so many people nowadays, concluding that the stereotypical image of conspiracy theorists as paranoid fanatics is prominent, and the ideas they have about reality are easily put aside as irrational and preposterous.
Abstract: markdownConspiracy theories are extremely popular: millions of people in the western world no longer trust epistemic authorities (such as science, media and politics) and resort to conspiracy theories to account for what actually happens out there. Conspiracy theories are formulated about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 or about collective vaccination, but they also feature in popular culture. Films, books and TV- series like The Matrix, The Da Vinci Code, or The X-Files, all play with logic and rhetoric of hidden games. But although conspiracy theories become more and more mainstream, a good sociological understanding of their popularity remains limited by their consistent pathologization in and outside academia. The stereotypical image of conspiracy theorists as paranoid fanatics is prominent, and the ideas they have about reality are easily put aside as irrational and preposterous. But is the idea of a conspiracy orchestrating world affairs that farfetched when secretive government operations and corporate collusions are a clear reality? Moreover, and this is the argument throughout the book, if we are to understand why so many people engage with conspiracy theories nowadays, then we need to explore the meanings they have for them. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Dutch conspiracy milieu and following a cultural sociological approach, Jaron Harambam explores such meanings in this book. He shows what contemporary conspiracy theories are about, which people are involved in the milieu, how they see themselves and what they actually do with these ideas in their everyday lives. Reality turns out to be much more complex than common stereotypes would suggest. As a conclusion, I will sociologically explain why conspiracy theories have such an appeal for so many people nowadays.

43 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, the authors argues that culture generally serves to reproduce, not contradict social structures, and the influence of the habitus is always mediated by the structure and strategies of the field of contest in which it is deployed, so that the same habitus may motivate different actions in different circumstances.
Abstract: Jeffrey Alexander's recent book on cultural sociology argues that sociologists must grant the realm of ideas autonomy to determine behavior, unencumbered by interference from instrumental or material factors. He criticizes the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu as "weak" for failing to give autonomy to culture by reducing it to self-interested behavior that immediately reflects class position. However, Alexander's arguments seriously distort and misstate Bourdieu's theory, which provides for the relative autonomy of culture through the concepts of habitus and field. Because habitus is a set of durable dispositions conditioned by past structures, it may contradict the changed structures of the present. Further, the influence of the habitus is always mediated by the structure and strategies of the field of contest in which it is deployed, so that the same habitus may motivate different actions in different circumstances. However, Alexander is correct to argue that in Bourdieu's theory culture generally serves to reproduce, not contradict social structures. Yet Bourdieu addresses this and other problems in his later work, in which he argues for the existence of certain cultural universals transcending particular structures.

43 citations


Cites background from "Science of Science and Reflexivity"

  • ...Until the posthumous publication of a course of lectures on science (Bourdieu 2004), he refused to perform on himself the sort of class analysis to which he routinely subjects the academics, artists, writers, and others he studies....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that linking two contested theories is unlikely to lead to generally sound advice on either curriculum design or approaches to science teaching.
Abstract: This paper examines the concept of constructive alignment in respect of science education. The concept is placed in the context of its two contributory components - constructivism and instructional alignment. The former has a well-established body of critical literature that highlights the challenges of constructivism for both science and science education. The instructional alignment component is a long-standing behaviourist approach to curriculum planning. Linking the two components in constructive alignment purports to offer “a theory of learning that is broad-based and empirically sound, and that easily translates into practice” married to “an aligned design for teaching”. This approach appears to have the uncritical support of key organisations in UK Higher Education. However, we suggest that linking two contested theories is unlikely to lead to generally sound advice on either curriculum design or approaches to science teaching.We would identify our perspective not as that of constructivists...

43 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative analysis of 10 women football coaches who had recently completed various association football coach education courses was carried out and the findings revealed high levels of gender discrimination and inappropriate cultural practice.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the provision of formal coach education. However, research has repeatedly demonstrated how coach education has had a limited impact on the learning and development of coach practitioners. To date however, these investigations have avoided female coach populations. Ten women football coaches who had recently completed various association football coach education courses participated in this study. Following the interpretive analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews the findings revealed high levels of gender discrimination and inappropriate cultural practice. The women's experiences are discussed in line with the Bourdieuian notions of social acceptance, symbolic language and power. The women coaches provided a number of recommendations for future coach education provision, which in turn, may help to improve the experiences for those women who participate in the coach education process.

43 citations


Cites background from "Science of Science and Reflexivity"

  • ...According to Bourdieu (2004) the social world can be viewed as a multi-dimensional space created on unequal foundations of power between social agents....

    [...]

01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of information technology and software engineering, and propose a set of guidelines for the development of these technologies.
Abstract: Одобрена на заседании кафедры теории права и сравнительного правоведения «___»____________ 2011 г. (Протокол No ___) Заведующий кафедрой В.Б. Исаков __________________ Рекомендована секцией «Право» УМС НИУ ВШЭ «___»___________ 20___г. (Протокол No ___) Председатель А.С. Шаталов ___________________ Утверждена УС Факультета права «___»_____________20___г. (Протокол No ___) Ученый секретарь С.А. Маркунцов ____________________

43 citations