SOCI 325: Sociology of Science

Agenda

Theme 4:
Science aligns
with power

  1. Administrative
  2. Groupwork and peer assessment
  3. Course themes revisited
  4. Up next: Science as an institution
  5. Small-group discussions

Administrative

Getting questions answered

  • For general questions, please use the “Q&A” channel on Nextcloud.
    (Don’t be shy: other students will appreciate the information!)
  • For any other questions that are private or only relevant to yourself (e.g. grades, accommodations, etc.), please contact me via email or Nextcloud

Accessiblity

  • Course material, including PDFs of slides, should be accessible using a screen reader
  • Please bring up any accessibility issues you encounter!
A QR code styled like a satyr playing a horn

Administrative

A QR code styled from a dithered image of two lion-tailed macaques

Group sign-up

Group sign-up

  • Remember to sign up for a group using the “Group sign-up” document
    (New document should be editable by all!)
  • Minimium of 5 students—groups with 4 or fewer will be combined
  • Students who do not sign up for a group by September 16 will be randomly assigned to a group

Groupwork
& peer assessment

an illustration of a large number of bees flying around a set of flowers

Groupwork

Group discussions and assessment

  • Starting next class (Thursday) your discussion worksheets will be graded
  • Each student will also be responsible for evaluating one other group’s discussion worksheets for the week
  • Each group will get feedback from ~5 students
  • Final mark will be the average of peer assessments and TA assessment
  • Evaluations are typically due the following Monday
    E.g. peer assessments for this Thurs Sept 17 are due Mon Sept 21
Photo of three older women collaboratively making lace around a table.

Peer assessment

A woman with an emphatic and forceful look on her face, with the caption 'Who allowed you to TAKE MY BREATH AWAY?

Assessment

  • Worksheet grades will be 50% peer assessment and 50% TA assessment
  • Assessments approx. once per week

Rubric

  • Clear understanding of the reading(s) (40%)
  • In-depth engagement with prompts (40%)
  • Insight/creativity (20%)
  • plus: constructive, qualitative feedback

Course themes

revisited

Course themes

Theme 1: Scientific outcomes are social

  • The discoveries, inventions, publications, and ideas produced by scientists are not outside of
    society.
  • Scientific discoveries are guided by social processes.
  • Scientific discoveries have social implications.
  • The meaning and implications of scientific ideas depends on social context.
Black and white photo of a mushroom cloud resulting from atomic bomb explosion

Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki resulting from atomic bomb dropped by the U.S. in 1945

Course themes

Theme 2: Scientific practice is social

  • Science is done by scientists in social settings.
  • Scientists live in diverse social contexts that influence their behavior, expectations, beliefs, ideals, …
  • Laboratories and other research institutions are themselves social settings.
  • Doing science involves interacting with other scientists, funding agencies, political entities, and non-scientists.
Four people in a scientific lab. One is looking through a microscope. The other three are smiling while looking at a paper document together.

Course themes

Theme 3: Science aligns with power

  • Science is not neutral.
  • Scientific questions, practices, and findings tend to align with prevailing power structures.
  • The veneer of objectivity in science can reinforce oppressive dynamics along racial, gender,
    economic, disability, and geographic lines.
A map of the world, with countries allegedly colored by 'IQ'. North Ameria and Europe are indicated with high IQ, while Africa, Central/South America, and the Middle East are idicated with low IQ. This is an example of racist science.

Map of “IQ estimates” from Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen (2006). (note that this representation has been thoroughly debunked)

Course themes

Theme 4: The history of science is a social history

  • The meaning of ‘science’ has changed over time, and those changes trace historical patterns.
  • The history of Western science is inextricable from the European enlightenment and European colonialism.
  • Contemporary science reflects our current historical moment.
Woodcut print of an apothocary in Renaissance garb examining a vial

Next classes: Institutions

Science as and institution

  • Examining scientific knowledge and practice through a normative lens
  • Norms of evaluation, evidence, credit, publication
  • What can this institutional approach tell us about science?

Readings

  • Merton (1942)
    The Normative Structure of Science
  • Kuhn (1970)
    The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (exerpts)
  • van den Brink and Benschop (2012)
    Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: Sheep with five legs

Discussion

Form groups of 5–6 people

  • Tree names are group names
  • Log on to class fileshare:
    https://cloud.petermcmahan.com
  • Find your tree’s worksheet
    (e.g. Sept 15 Worksheets => Ash.md)

Small-group discussions:

  • Choose one facilitator who will keep the discussion focused and make sure everyone is able to participate.
  • Choose one secretary who will be in charge of notes and summarizing the group’s responses for submission.
  • Find the worksheet online with your tree name
  • Type your responses directly in the document

Notes:

  • You do not need to reach consensus on the questions. Your write-up should mention the different points your group thought were relevant. One or two paragraphs worth of text per question should be sufficient.
    Please avoid bullet-point format.
  • You can discuss the questions in any order you like, and you do not need to respond to all of them. Read them all over before you begin!

Image credit

an illustration of a large number of bees flying around a set of flowers

Artist unknown, via Old Book Illustrations

Photo of three older women collaboratively making lace around a table.

Photo by Flip Schulke via flickr

A woman with an emphatic and forceful look on her face, with the caption 'Who allowed you to TAKE MY BREATH AWAY?

Still from Booksmart (2019)

Black and white photo of a mushroom cloud resulting from atomic bomb explosion

Photo via Wikimedia

Four people in a scientific lab. One is looking through a microscope. The other three are smiling while looking at a paper document together.

Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash

A map of the world, with countries allegedly colored by 'IQ'. North Ameria and Europe are indicated with high IQ, while Africa, Central/South America, and the Middle East are idicated with low IQ. This is an example of racist science.

Image via Wikimedia

Woodcut print of an apothocary in Renaissance garb examining a vial

Image via Wellcome Collection

Benjamin (2019), Engineered Inequity: Are Robots Racist? - No way to understand the technology of AI without the social contexts of culture, politics, power, money, etc - A 'purely' technical or scientific explanation is incomplete

Goodyear (2016), The Stem-Cell Scandal - The _doing_ of science bears little resemblance to the uncomplicated ideal of a pure scientific method - Science is done by _people and organizations_ operating within _social institutions_ - Scientific practice is not immune to social forces

Gould (1981), Measuring Heads - If there is one big lesson from 150 years of sociology it is this: institutions and individual behavior inevitably reinforce existing power structures - We are all (yes, _you_) influenced by dominant norms and socialized preconceptions about the world - tools and methods can help, but not completely

Wolfe (2018), Freedom’s Laboratory (Introduction) - What we mean by 'science' (the practice, utility, significance, role, ...) is deeply situated in the current historical moment. - Wolfe: This goes beyond just "what are the important questions." Science is more entangeled with culture than that. - What science is _for_ (creating of useful tools? fulfilling basic curiousity about the universe? Generating expertise as a political resource?) depends on the time and place that is being done. - (like all institutions: govt, military, education, family, ...)