Cultural Boundaries of Science Credibility on the Line
- List Price: $44.00
- Binding: Paperback
- Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
- Publish date: 11/01/1998
Description:
Why is science so credible? Usual answers center on scientists' objective methods or their powerful instruments. In his new book, Thomas Gieryn argues that a better explanation for the' cultural authority of science lies downstream, when scientific claims leave laboratories and enter courtrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. On such occasions, we use "maps" to decide who to believe -- cultural maps demarcating "science" from pseudoscience, ideology, faith, or nonsense.
Expand description
Gieryn looks at episodes of boundary-work: Was phrenology good science? How about cold fusion? Is social science really scientific? Is organic farming? After centuries of disputes like these, Gieryn finds no stable criteria that absolutely distinguish science from non-science. Science remains a pliable cultural space, flexibly reshaped to claim credibility for-some beliefs while denying it to others. In a timely epilogue, Gieryn finds this same controversy at the heart of the raging science wars".
Product notice
Returnable at the third party seller's discretion and may come without consumable supplements like access codes, CD's, or workbooks.
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