SOCI 325: Sociology of Science

Agenda

Representing reality

  1. Fixation of evidence
  2. Reading discussion

Fixation of evidence

Fixation of evidence

Method:
conversation analysis

Sociological method from symbolic interactionist tradition

  • Interactionists: the ‘interaction’ is the basic object that society and individuals are built from.
  • Careful dissection of those interactions is therefore a crucial method.

Repair

  • Interactionists: the instrumental side of interaction (communication, manipulation, persuasion, etc) is often secondary to the situation of the interaction.
    Most important is that the interaction "works out"
  • Conversation analysis tries to locate the moments when the interaction order is breaking down, and how participants work together to repair it.

Text screenshot of conversation analysis. Text reads: #13 [JGII(b):8:14] 1 John: So who'r the boyfriends for the week. 2 (0.2) 3 Mary:.k.hhhhh- Oh: go::d e-yih this one'n that one yihknow, 4 I jist, yih know keep busy en go out when I wanna go out 5 John it's nothing .hhh I don't have anybody serious 6 on the string, 7 John: So in other words you'd go out if I:: askedche out 8 one a' these times. 9 Mary:Yeah! Why not.

A wild-eyed man in office attire gesturing to a wall covered in lots of scraps of paper connected with red yarn and with text scrawled all over them. Someone's shoulder is visible in the foreground, presumably it is the person he is explaining his theories to.

Fixation of evidence

The fixation of (visual) evidence
Amann and Knorr Cetina (1988)

“Low-level” processes

  • Much of the literature looks at how scientists negotiate theories and beliefs in the face of the body of evidence.
  • This article instead focuses on the way that ‘raw’ data becomes evidence.

Projected (idealized) sequence

  • Opening sequence ➔ inquiry sequence ➔ evaluation sequence ➔
    closing sequence

Raw data does not allow this

  • Ambiguities, omissions, technical errors, etc. complicate the fixation.
  • Conversational devices are used to resolve these issues.
    (procedural implicature, optical induction, and oppositive devices)

Steven Crowder 'change my mind' meme, but the poster has an image of the gel from Amann and Knorr Cetina 1988

Fixation of evidence

"Raw" autoradiograph
An image of a series of smears across a page

Published figure
A cleaned up image of an autoradiograph with labels

Next class

Actor–network theory

  • Sismondo (2009)
    Chapter 8: Actor–network theory
  • Callon (1984)
    Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation: Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St Brieuc Bay

Image credit

Text screenshot of conversation analysis. Text reads: #13 [JGII(b):8:14] 1 John: So who'r the boyfriends for the week. 2 (0.2) 3 Mary:.k.hhhhh- Oh: go::d e-yih this one'n that one yihknow, 4 I jist, yih know keep busy en go out when I wanna go out 5 John it's nothing .hhh I don't have anybody serious 6 on the string, 7 John: So in other words you'd go out if I:: askedche out 8 one a' these times. 9 Mary:Yeah! Why not.

Excerpt from Fitch and Sanders. 2005. Handbook of Language and Social Interaction

A wild-eyed man in office attire gesturing to a wall covered in lots of scraps of paper connected with red yarn and with text scrawled all over them. Someone's shoulder is visible in the foreground, presumably it is the person he is explaining his theories to.

Screen capture from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)

Steven Crowder 'change my mind' meme, but the poster has an image of the gel from Amann and Knorr Cetina 1988

“Change my mind” meme from Imgflip

Even in disagreement, the situation can “work out” (preference for disagreement from Amann & Cetina p152) (Jefferson Transcription system — Gail Jefferson)

Not (necessarily) a process of “corruption” or “biasing” of raw data. This is what science does in a very fundamental sense Electrophoresis gels (autoradiographs) Steven Crowder (from pic): conservative shock-commentator known for trying to pull college students into bad-faith arguments. Also known for persistent racism and allegedly abusing his ex-wife.

Not (necessarily) a process of “corruption” or “biasing” of raw data. This is what science does in a very fundamental sense Electrophoresis gels (autoradiographs)