| volume 13 (3) | September 1994 |
by Raimund Hasse, Georg Krücken, and Peter Weingart
Institute for Science and Technology Studies, University of Bielefeld,
Box 100131, D-33501
Bielefeld, Germany
With this contribution we want to join the theoretical discussion
about shifting contents and new perspectives in the social studies
of science. Despite all its differences, the social studies of science
once shared a coherent perspective, namely to relate the
knowledge content of science to social factors.
From the very beginning, a strong emphasis had been put on
the social construction of science. Meanwhile, however,
"constructivism" as a methodological and theoretical device is
slowly disappearing. Michael Lynch, in his recent book states a
"crisis in relativist and constructivist studies" (1993: 103), and for
Karin Knorr-Cetina "constructivism ... is not ... a world view or a
life-time occupation." Therefore she presumes that "there will be a
time when it is more useful to take the questions and run from
constructivism" (1993: 561-562). Others, like Andrew Pickering
(1992) and Bruno Latour (1987), simply do not mention the term
"constructivism" any longer in their book indices.
The term "social" is even more contested. Especially in
empirical studies on scientific practice and in the actor-network
approach a sharp criticism of social biases in previous science
studies is put forward. Our argument with regard to this heated
debate is threefold:
First, we will give a brief introduction to basic assumptions and
common features of those science studies, which claim to have
overcome what Andrew Pickering, Bruno Latour and others call
"sociological reductionism".
Second, we will draw attention to the inherent limitations of
the post-sociological alternatives presented. Apart from the
problem that the constitution of single phenomena has to be taken
for granted, the question remains open, how all the observed
phenomena and their outputs are related to each other if not by
cognitive and social factors.
Third, we will show that the shift towards practice and the actor-
network approach are, despite their claimed newness, a direct
consequence of the limited and rather metaphorical use of social
theory, which characterize the social studies of science in
general.
Basic assumptions and common features of recent science
studies
One main objective of the present studies is to focus on all
dimensions of scientific research. Therefore the traditional
limitation to social dimensions seems to be too narrow. Entities
which previously were neglected are included in the analysis. See,
e.g., Ian Hacking: "I am not to argue for idealism but for a rather
down-to-earth materialism. Mine is a thesis about the relationships
between thoughts, acts, and manufactures" (1992: 30).
The so-called shift towards scientific practice focuses on the
amount of equipment and technology, which is relevant in a
laboratory setting and which is taken as an actively shaping part of
scientific research. As a consequence, equipment and technology
are regarded as a cause for the production of scientific knowledge
in the same way as the scientists` cognitive contributions. Karin
Knorr- Cetina, for example, has even emphasized in a case study on
particle physics: "The production, measurement and description of
the relevant particles takes place in an integrated way in the inside
of the apparatus. The surrounding "laboratory" (in quotation marks)
is the service station for the machine, which is the true laboratory"
(1988: 328-329). In a similar vein, Andrew Pickering tries to
attribute a constitutive role to the material world in science.
Scientific results are then seen as inherently shaped by what he
calls "maneuvers in the field of material agency" (1993: 581).
A second emerging trend can be identified in the actor-network
approach of the Paris School. Bruno Latour, its most prominent
representative, aims at blurring the boundaries of the distinction
between the social, on the one side, and technology and nature on
the other side. These a priori distinctions have to be substituted,
since a network is composed of different actors and their
interactions, all of which contribute to its strength or weakness. As
a consequence, microbes are introduced as new social actors
(1988a: 35 ff.), scallops are understood as beings with ends (1988a:
167), and even "reflexion" is transfered to nonhuman living beings
and technical artefacts (1988b: 173).
To sum up, both developments have a common objective.
Namely, the complete representation of the interactions of single
components. However, this ambitious modification causes two
conceptual problems: First, the constitution of each of these
components usually is taken for granted. It remains implicit why
microbes are not treated as a result of molecular processes, and
why technical artefacts are not broken into single subcomponents
like nuts and bolts. The second problem refers to the question how
the components relate to each other. This is grounded in the claim
that the approach avoids to consider technology and nature only as
a function of human activities.
This stands in sharp contrast to the former social constructivist
dogma, where causal priority was assigned to the social. As a
consequence, these older science studies focused on the social
shaping of nature and technology. No matter whether society as a
whole or local thought collectives of single research groups were
considered to be relevant, in each case social contexts were
assumed to be the location where not only the negotiation of
scientific results takes place, but also the production of technology
and the definition of nature. Hence, social reality served as a key to
open up all other phenomena and their relationship to each other.
This perspective has been abandoned.
Limitations of the shift towards practice and the actor-network
approach
Recent science studies document directly visible phenomena. Each component is taken as an independent factor. Single components are interesting only as far as they produce material outcomes. Internal characteristics of single components are left out of consideration in the same way as those relations between them which lie beneath the surface.
Such a material and outcome-oriented perspective could have been integrated by a physical theory of science, focussing exclusively on movements, emissions and noise of scientists and other components. Instead key terms of the social sciences, like agency, actor and interaction, reappear and are employed for the description of single components and their relation to each other. Cognitive dimensions like intention and reflection are ascribed in the same way. These concepts are no longer limited to the analysis of scientists and the relations between them, but transferred to all visible phenomena - computers, detectors, and microbes. Unfortunately, they are employed in an ad hoc and arbitrary manner, without careful consideration of the rules and obstacles of such transformation, or of the repercussions on the content of the concept involved.
Two examples illustrate this point: First, in a completely desocialized definition of action, the relevant dimensions of intention and meaning as well as normative and cultural aspects, are sacrificed in order to treat all observable entities in the same manner. As a consequence, scientists do research in the same way as the sun shines, planes fly, taps drip water and test-tubes break. Second, also the underlying concept of interaction is an extremely reductionist one. Aspects which lie beneath the surface and which can be reconstructed only from an internal point of view, like the process-character of interaction and the mutual structures of meaning and expectation within the interaction, are sacrificed. As a consequence, not only can scientists interact with computers but a toaster can interact with a piece of toast.
The symmetrical consideration of all kinds of phenomena is
common ground for the post-sociology of science. Beyond that,
there are differences. While those who advocate the shift towards
scientific practice pursue an empiricist ideal, Latour`s actor-
network approach is characterized by theoretical and ethical
aspirations. In a brutishly anticonstructivist manner networks are
treated as an objective structure, and Latour can present himself
as its legitimate and independent speaker. His language contains
both: an excessive use of terms borrowed from social theory and,
correspondingly, a devaluation of the content of these terms. The
implications have been shown above.
Social reductionisms in the Social Studies of Science
The shortcomings of post-sociological science studies have also
been discussed by others. Some critics even have argued for a
return to the more traditional paths of the social studies of science
(Collins/Yearley 1992 a,b). Our point is that this will not suffice,
since the problems experienced now - namely the lack of a theory
which allows for an understanding of how things are structured and
processed - can be traced back to the core assumptions of the
social studies of science. Therefore, continuation, not revolution
should be the right term to characterize the development. Though
less obvious and hidden by an excessive use of social metaphors,
the former approaches were already characterized by a very
narrow understanding of the social dimensions in science.
Shortcomings with regard to the social dimensions are characteristic of the two perhaps most influential, but entirely different schools in the social studies of science, namely the strong programme and the ethnomethodological approach. The strong program started with the social environment, which was supposed to determine science (Bloor 1976, Barnes 1977). Here, social dimensions were reduced to broader societal interests without specifying the mechanisms which transform these external forces into the social structures and processes of science. In contrast, the ethnomethodological approach by Knorr-Cetina (1981) and Lynch (1985) started with individual scientists. Here, social dimensions in science were reduced to scientists' negotiations. Science now appeared to be like an unstructered vacuum, without a past and without a future.
While the ethnomethodological approach by Knorr-Cetina
(1981) and Lynch (1985) had at least an idea of the dynamics of
social interaction, Latour and Woolgar (1979) in their book on
"Laboratory Life" employed an entirely desocialized concept of
human action and interaction. The main unit of analysis, individual
actors, was conceptualized as nothing but strategically operating
and manipulating entities. Though the study is subtitled "The social
construction of scientific facts", common features of social
constructivism like routines and habits, collective belief systems,
and processes of integration and identity formation (Berger/
Luckmann 1967) seem to be of minor importance. Likewise, all kinds
of symbolic dimensions (Douglas 1982, Goffman 1967) were
neglected. Instead, their oversimplified and reductionist model of
man allowed for the observation of the scientists' actions and
interactions as if they were automata, programmed to pursue their
individual interest. From this point of view, the social character of
knowledge production is reduced to aggregate outcomes - of
human actors.
This leads rights back to recent trends in the social studies of
science. The purified concept of action as employed by
Latour/Woolgar (1979) can be - and apparently has been -
transferred plainly to all kinds of entities, regardless of whether
they are human. As a consequence, men, machines and microbes
likewise appear as acting entitities. All differences disappear, and
everything becomes possible in the new, enriched world of science
studies.
References
Barnes, B., 1977: Interests and the Growth of Knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Berger, P.L./ Luckmann, T., 1967: The Social Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Doubleday.
Bloor, D., 1976: Knowledge and Social Imagery. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Collins, H.M./Yearley S., 1992a: Epistemological Chicken, in: Pickering, A., ed., Science as Practice and Culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 301-326.
Collins, H.M./Yearley, S., 1992b: Journey into Space, in: Pickering, A., ed., Science as Practice and Culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 369-389.
Douglas, M., 1982: Cultural Bias, in: Douglas, M., ed., In the Active Voice. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 183-254.
Goffman, E., 1967: Interaction Ritual. Essays in Face-to-Face Behavior. Chicago: Aldine.
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Knorr-Cetina, K., 1993: Strong Constructivism - from a Sociologist's Point of View: A Personal Addendum to Sismondo's Paper, Social Studies of Science 23: 555-563.
Latour, B., 1987: Science in Action. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Latour, B., 1988a: The Pasteurization of France. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Latour, B., 1988b: The Politics of Explanation: an Alternative, in: Woolgar, S., ed., Knowledge and Reflexivity. London: Sage, 155-177.
Latour, B./Woolgar, S., 1979: Laboratory Life. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Lynch, M., 1985: Art and Artefact in Laboratory Science. A Study of Shop Work and Shop Talk in a Research Laboratory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
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