Ideology And Science Flashcards
The impact of science
Society has gone through a process of rationalisation and secularisation which has led science to become the dominant belief system.
Robert Lomas highlights how today’s society has absolute trust in science
KEY TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH SCIENCE:
EMPIRICAL: Objects are physical and measurable.
OBJECTIVE: No room for personal preference or bias.
CUMULATIVE: Knowledge builds on old knowledge.
AN OPEN BELIEFS SYSTEM: Knowledge/ information is open to scrutiny (testing and re-testing) allows for verification and refutation.
Karl popper
Falsification
Popper argues that science is unique as, in their quest to find ‘truths’, scientists do not try and prove themselves right, they actually try to falsify their work first.
By trying to prove a theory wrong scientists remain objective in their endeavours and thus do not allow personal bias to infiltrate their research. This is how scientific knowledge becomes ‘cumulative’.
Merton suggests that, if a belief system is to grow, it should adopt 4 key ‘norms’. Science has been able to do this and as such has become dominant in the West.
COMMUNISM: Shared, ‘open’ knowledge that can be accessed by the whole community.
UNIVERSALISM: ‘Truths’ / ‘Conclusions’ are tested by universal, objective criteria (not through individual bias/ perspectives).
DISINTERESTEDNESS: Discovering knowledge for its own sake – not for individual ‘subjective’ purposes.
ORGANISED SCEPTICISM: No knowledge claim is regarding as sacred & untouchable. Every idea is open to questioning & scrutiny.
HORTON (1973): Religion is a ‘closed’ system.
Religious knowledge is seen by followers as ‘sacred’ knowledge and therefore is unquestionable and ‘perfect’ knowledge that is not open to scrutiny or, as Popper puts it, falsification’ – it could not exist as a system if this were the case.
Religious beliefs cannot be challenged – they are fixed.
Systems such as religion, magic and the supernatural have ‘get-out devices’ which allow them to explain anything away
POLANYI (1958): SELF-SUSTAINING BELIEFS
Like Evans-Pritchard, Polanyi argues that belief systems such as religion, magic, witchcraft etc. have various ways of ‘dodging’ contradictions & thus maintaining themselves:
Circularity: Each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea within the system.
Subsidiary explanations: E.G- If the oracle fails, it may be explained away as incorrect use of the ‘benge’.
Denial of legitimacy to rivals: Outright denial of other belief systems explanations & assumptions e.g. Creationism vs. Evolution.
THOMAS KUHN (1970): SCIENTIFIC PARADIGMS AND REVOLUTIONS
Sciences are based on sets of assumptions called paradigms. These paradigms tell the scientist what reality is like, what’s right, what’s wrong, what can be done, what can’t be done, what counts as evidence, what should be discounted, who to listen to, who not to listen to etc.
New scientists are ‘socialised’ into these paradigms and groomed so that they accept this paradigm & ‘fit in’. Those who accept the paradigm & reach the ‘right’ answers are rewarded e.g. more funding, professorships, awards etc.
Those who ‘go against the grain’ & think outside the existing paradigm and/ or discover answers that do not fit the existing paradigm are shunned by the scientific community.
On rare occasions, there will be too many anomalies & challenges to a paradigm and in these cases there is a ‘Scientific Revolution’ where a new paradigm is put in place & the old one rejected.
Science is socially constructed
Knorr-Cetina (1981): Continues Kuhn’s argument that scientific knowledge is socially constructed by highlighting that all knowledge is socially constructed as it relies on the interpretation of people and the resources and instruments available to them (and created by them).
Laboratory settings are artificial and & therefore far removed from the natural world that scientists are supposedly studying.
SCIENCE IN a late/ POSTMODERN SOCIETY
Beck and giddens
The credibility of science has been called into question because it has caused so much harm, E.G: weapons of mass destruction, global warming, addictive drugs, pollution and cyber crime.
Giddens: Science no longer provides certainty and absolute knowledge. Science has created ‘man-made’ risks!
BECK: Science creates risk and uncertainty in late modern society on a global scale. E.G: Cyber crime and terrorism cross national boundaries OR the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caused by radiation! The credibility of science is undermined because scientists cannot agree on new developments like GM crops for instance!
SCIENCE IN a late/ POSTMODERN SOCIETY
Lyotard
Lyotard: People in a post-modern society have lost faith in meta-narratives such as religion and science. Science has failed to deliver enlightenment and progress. Science has become a tool of industry and commerce, not for societal progress!
What is an ideology
When Belief systems are exploited to suit the needs of a particular social group, they then become part of an IDEOLOGY.
Marxism and ideology
Marx argues it is in the W/C interest to overthrow the Capitalist system through a ‘Socialist Revolution’ & replace it with a classless communist society where the means of production are shared collectively.
For this revolution to occur the W/C must become aware if their exploited position in society. To do this the W/C must develop ‘Class Consciousness’ (as opposed to False Class Consciousness).
GRAMSCI: HEGEMONY
Gramsci referred to R/C ideological domination as hegemony. This Hegemony can be challenged by the W/C because the W/C have a Dual Consciousness……
This is a mixture of R/C Ideology (False Class Consciousness) & W/C Ideology (Class Consciousness). The W/C develop their Class Consciousness from their own experiences of exploitation & hardships.
Gramsci believes that the W/C could instigate a revolution once a small group of W/C ‘Organic Intellectuals’ form & spread Class Consciousness through the whole of the W/C.
NEO-MARXISM, RELATIVE AUTONOMY AND REVOLUTION:
Neo-Marxists such as Maduro (1982) believe that, although the church is used as an instrument of the R/C, eventually the W/C would use it to revolt against them.
Maduro suggests that by giving the W/C ‘relative autonomy’ of their religion, they will eventually be able to take full autonomy and use the church, its officials and its power to launch an attack on the R/C oppressors.
This further emphasises the notion of ‘revolutionary religion’ and supports the argument that Religion can be used as a force for social change.
The ideology of nationalism
Nationalism is an important political ideology than has had a significant impact on the world in the last 200 years. It claims that:
Nations are a unique, distinct and real community that share a long history.
Every nation should be self-governing.
National loyalty and identity should come before all others, such as tribe, class or religion.
HOWEVER: Benedict (2006) argues that these are only ‘imagined communities’ because, despite identifying with, we never truly know the other members! Despite this, millions of strangers are bound together by a creation of common purposes.
Analysis and evaluation from functionalism
Functionalists see nationalism as a form of civil religion, integrating people into larger political and social movements which makes them feel like they are a part of something ‘bigger than themselves’.
In modern industrial societies where people experience religious diversity/conflict, nationalism unites people into a single national community regardless of religion or class.
Functionalists believe that education plays a big role in creating social solidarity E.G: through singing of the national anthem or teaching the nations history!
Analysis and evaluation from Marxism
Marxism sees nationalism as a form of ‘false consciousness’.Marx himself was an internationalist and believed ALL workers should unite.
“Workers of all countries, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win.”
Marx felt that nationalism aided false class consciousness and prevented an end to capitalism by dividing the international working classes. They were fooled into believing that they had more in common with the capitalists in their own country than with workers of other countries.
Ultimately, this enabled the ruling class of each capitalist country to persuade the working class to fight wars on their behalf!
Analysis and evaluation from gellner
Nationalism & modernity…
Gellner ALSO sees nationalism as a false consciousness. The claim that nations have always existed is untrue. Gellner believed they were a new, modern phenomenon and that pre-industrial societies were held together not by nationalism, but by face-to-face relationships with a fixed hierarchy of ascribed statuses.
Modern society is very different. Industrialisation creates large-scale, impersonal societies where all citizens are of relatively equal status.
Modern states therefore need some means of enabling communication between strangers and this is where nationalism comes in!
It uses agencies such as the media and education to impose a single national culture. Gellner believed that the state used nationalism to ensure that the population were able to endure the hardships and suffering of the first phase of industrialisation, thus enabling the state to modernise!
MANHEIM: IDEOLOGY & UTOPIA:
Mannheim believes that all belief systems are one-sided & biased as they tend to represent one group/ class interests.
There are 2 main types of belief systems:
Ideological thought
Utopian thought
‘FREE-FLOATING’ INTELLIGENTSIA:
Mannheim: We need to ‘detach’ intellectuals from particular social groups so that they are not biased.
By doing this, these ‘Free-Floating Intelligentsia’ can remain objective and piece together many different world-views, ending up with a ‘Total World View’ that represents society as a whole.
Feminism and patriarchal ideology
Another good example of Ideology can be found within Feminism which argues that females are oppressed and controlled by patriarchal ideology.
Men use many different belief systems to support their dominant patriarchal ideology such as Science & Religion:
Marks (1979) Science & Patriarchy
Pauline Marks shows how science is used to justify gender inequality:
She quotes 19th Century Doctors, Scientists & Educationalists who argue that educating females would prevent them from breast feeding properly:
(Educating Females would lead to)..’a new race of puny & unfeminine females’… (and would)…’disqualify women from their true vocation’ (Nurturing infants).
Feminists also highlight how anti-abortionist campaigns (& the associated advertised medical problems & dangers associated with abortion) are another way that science justifies the control over women’s bodies.
Liberation theology
Liberation theology was a radical movement that grew in South America in the 1960s as a response to the poverty and the ill-treatment of ordinary ‘poor’ people. The movement was characterised in the phrase ‘If Jesus Christ were on Earth today, he would be a Marxist Revolutionary’.
Many priests became involved in politics and trades unions, others even aligned themselves with violent revolutionary movements.
It was believed by these revolutionaries that the church should be a movement that support those who were denied their rights as human beings. The poor should use the example set by Jesus to bring about equality in society.
