Topic 7: Ideology and science

Question 1

Define ideology. ( marxists definition)

Answer 1

an ideology is a one side world view that legitimates a groups interest and/ or creates a false consciousness

Question 2

Why is it in workers’ interests to overthrow capitalism?

Answer 2

they want to replace it with a classless communist society in which the means for production are collectively, not privately, owned and used to benefit society as a whole

Question 3

What is meant by class consciousness?

Answer 3

for the revolution to occur, the wc must be made aware of and conscious of their true position as ‘wage slaves’

Question 4

Define ruling-class ideology

Answer 4

ideas that legitimate or justify the status quo

Question 5

Give three examples of the beliefs and ideas of ruling-class ideology

Answer 5

• equality will never work
• believe in meritocracy so the poor must be poor cause they are lazy (Bowles and Gintis)
• racists ideas about the inferiority of ethnic minorities

Question 6

Briefly explain Mannheim’s two types of belief system:

a. ideological thought

Answer 6

justifies keeping things as they are. reflects position of of privileged groups. They benefit from maintain the status quo so they like hierarchy

Question 7

Briefly explain Mannheim’s two types of belief system:

utopian thought

Answer 7

justifies social change. It reflects the position and interest of the under privileged groups and offers a vision of how society should be organised

Question 8

state what ruling class ideology includes

Answer 8

• distorts reality
• produces a false consciousness
• justfifies inequalities
• supports the position of ruling class

Question 9

what does Althusser argue about dominant ideology

Answer 9

suggests that dominant ideology was spread through a series of ideologies state apparatus which justifies the power of the dominant social class

Question 10

what feminists argue about patriarchal ideology

Answer 10

• claim that it justifies and maintains male dominance and it appears normal and natural
• see it in science and religion as legitimating gender inequality (AO3)
• eg marks describes how ideas from science have been used to exclude women from education (AO3)

Question 11

what does pluralist ideology mean

Answer 11

simply suggests that there are different types of social groups with their own ideology which live along side eachother. These groups will have their own way of interpreting the social world. (A03)

Question 12

what do pluralist ideology argue

Answer 12

• no particular ideology is able to dominate others, prevaliling ideas in society reflect the interests of a wide range of competing social groups
• but fall in a trap of stating that there is a broad range of social groups whilst ignoring inequality

Question 13

what is a political ideology

Answer 13

one that provides an interpretation of how society and suggest how power should be used by governments to influence events and change society through policy making and political action

Question 14

A03 for political ideologies

Answer 14

may be quite broad such as liberalism or very specific such as UK political parties eg labour

Question 15

how is an ideology different to a belief system

Answer 15

• a belief system is a framework of ideas an individual uses to make sense of the world.
• an ideology is a type of belief system

Question 16

how do marxists see institutions

Answer 16

• marxists see institutions such as religion and education producing ruling class ideology and maintaing capitalist hegemony

Question 17

what is argued about science as a belief system

Answer 17

• modern science is seen by many sociologists as a product of the process of rationalisation
• secularisation theories argue that science has undermined religion

Question 18

what impact has science had on our society over the last few centuries

Answer 18

science and tech has revolutionised economic liability and has meant that our living standards have been raised significantly. This success has led to a widespread ‘faith in science’ as a belief that it can deliver the goods

Question 19

Has faith in science ever come into question

Answer 19

yes, as recently there has been a recognition that science can cause problems such as global warming, weapons of mass destruction, pollution - theses are as much a product of science as wonder drugs, space, flight and the internet
science has created its own manufactured risks

Question 20

what is difference about science to other beliefs

Answer 20

Its cognitive power.​

In other words it enables us to explain, predict and control the world in a way that non-scientific or pre-scientific belief systems cannot do.

Question 21

Why has science been successful in explaining and controlling the world?

Answer 21

Sir Karl Popper (1959) science is an open belief system where every scientists theory is open to scrutiny, criticism and testing by others.​

This is falsification scientists deliberately try to falsify a theory finding evidence that would disprove it. If an observation or experiment provides evidence that disproves a theory the theory can be disregarded and a new one put forward.​

In science, knowledge claims live or die by the evidence.

Question 22

what does popper argue

Answer 22

This process of discarding falsified information allows our scientific understanding to grow.​

Scientific knowledge is cumulative – it builds on the achievements of previous scientists and allows scientists to develop a better understanding of the world around us.

Question 23

what does merton argue

Answer 23

merton argues that CUDOS norms occurred first in England as a result of the values and attitudes created by the protestant reformation
merton also argues like popper that science as an institution needs an ‘ethos’ or set of norms that serve the goal of increasing scientific knowledge. He identifies four such norms as ‘CUDOS’ for shirt from initial letters

Question 24

CUDOS norms: Communism

Answer 24

• scientific knowledge is not private property- it is essential that findings can be shared and tested by others for science to grow

Question 25

CUDOS norms: universalism

Answer 25

The truth or falsity of a scientific claim is judged by universal objective testing criteria- not particular to race/country/sex etc of the person testing it.

Question 26

CUDOS norms: disinteredness

Answer 26

Being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake. ​

Having to publish their findings makes it harder for scientists to practice fraud- as others can check their claims

Question 27

CUDOS norms: organised Scpetism

Answer 27

No knowledge claim is regarded as ‘sacred’ every idea is open to questioning, criticism and open investigation

Question 28

what are closed belief systems

Answer 28

• religion claims to have absolute truth
• it is not open to be disproven as science is
• religious organised hold onto divine authority
• those who do challenge its authority can be heresay
• this means that religious knowledge does not change
• it is fixed and does not move

Question 29

Use an example to illustrate how the Azande explain misfortune.

Answer 29

When misfortune occurs they claim it as witchcraft. The injured person makes an accusation againsts the unsuspected witch

Question 30

How do the Azande deal with a suspected witch?

Answer 30

• They consult a prince who consults his magic poison oracle ‘benge’
• A chicken is fed the benge – if it dies witchcraft has occurred
• The sufferer can then publicly ask the witch to stop
• The witch could be doing harm unintentionally
• The accused can apologise and proclaim their horror and promise to no further bewitching

Question 31

According to Evans-Pritchard, what three functions does the Azande belief system perform?

Answer 31

Clears the air
Encourages neighbours to behave responsibly and considerately
Children control their parents as it is believed witchcraft is hereditary

Question 32

What prevents the Azande from questioning the belief system?

Answer 32

This belief system is highly resistant to challenges

It is an important control mechanism to ensure conformity and cooperation

Question 33

polanyi

Answer 33

(1958) argues that belief systems have three devices to keep themselves going in the face of contradictory evidence:
Belief systems reject alternative worldviews as being wrong.
Creationists reject the fact that evolutionists claim the world is billions of years old. They reject fossil evidence and evolution process.

Question 34

According to Polanyi, in what way is science a closed belief system?

Answer 34

argues that all belief systems reject fundamnetal challenges to their knowledge claims and that science is no difference eg the case of doctor velikovsky

Question 35

Explain what Kuhn means by a paradigm.

Answer 35

set of assumptions. The paradigm tells scientists what reality is like, what problems to study, what methods to use, what will count as evidence, and what answers they should find.

Question 36

According to Kuhn, what is normal science?

Answer 36

This is like puzzle solving- the paradigm lays down the broad outline and it is the scientists job to fill in the missing pieces- those who do are rewarded with research grants/Nobel prizes and money for patented drugs etc.

Question 37

What happens to those scientists who challenge the paradigm?

Answer 37

They are likely to be ridculed and hounded out of the profession. others in the scientific community will not regard them as a scientist at all

Question 38

According to Kuhn, when does a scientific revolution take place?

Answer 38

when faith in the truth of the paradigm has already been undermine by an accumulation of anomalies’ - results that the paradigm cannot account for . Only them can scientists become open to radically new ideas

Question 39

Briefly explain what interpretivists mean by ‘social construction’.

Answer 39

means that rather being the objective truth, it is created by social groups using the resources available to them.

Question 40

According to Knorr-Cetina, how is science able to ‘fabricate’ new facts and how does she view the laboratory setting?

Answer 40

invention of new instruments allows scientists to construct new facts. What scientists study in the lab is highly fabricated and far removed from the natural world eg animals are specially bred and water is purified

Question 41

How does the example of ‘little green men’ illustrate the fact that scientists are engaged in the process of interpreting the world?

Answer 41

Ethnomethodologist - Steve Woolgar-
Scientists are involved in the same process as everyone else in the world- making sense of it.
When they have evidence from their experiments or observations they have to make sense of this.
They make theories to go with their research.
Then they have to persuade others to accept this interpretation.

Cambridge astronomy unit discovered pulsars (pulsating neutron stars) in 1967.
They annotated patterns of the printouts showing the pulsars as LGM1 LGM 2.
If they had published this their careers would have been over!
They eventually agreed the patterns on the stars were signals from a type of star unknown to anyone yet- they did not know what the patterns meant.
However more than a decade later no-one really knew what they meant
Woolgar says a scientific fact is just a belief that every scientist wants everyone else to have but is not necessarily based on a real thing out there.

Question 42

How marxists and feminists view science

Answer 42

Critical views such as M and F see science as being far from the truth.
Instead they see science as serving the needs of the dominant groups- in Marxism the ruling class and in Feminism – men.
Many advances in science have been driven by the need of capitalism
Work on gravity was explored to develop weaponry.

Question 43

How do postmodernists view science

Answer 43

Reject the knowledge-claims of science for different reasons,
Jean-Francois Lyotard believes that science is a grand meta-narrative that falsely claims the truth.
Other meta-narratives include Marxism and religion and psychoanalysis.
Science is just one more discourse.
A way of thinking used to dominate people

Question 44

Why is it in workers’ interests to overthrow capitalism?

Answer 44

as the wc are property less and therefore forced to sell their labour to the capitalist. The capitalist class took advantage of this, exploiting the workers labour to profit. So for this reason it is the workers interests to overthrow them

Question 45

Briefly explain how Gramsci sees workers as having dual consciousness

Answer 45

a mixture of ruling class ideology and ideas they develop from their own direct experience of exploitation and their struggles againsts it

Question 46

Define ‘organic intellectuals’.

Answer 46

workers who through their anti capitalist struggles have developed a class consciousness

Question 47

How do Abercrombie et al criticise Gramsci?

Answer 47

some critics argue that it is not the existence of a dominant ideology that keeps the workers in line and prevents attempts to overthrow capitalism. eg Abercrombie argue that is economic factors such as the fear of unemployment that keep workers from rebelling

Question 48

Briefly outline the three features of nationalism.

Answer 48

1. Nations are real distinct communities each with its own unique
   characteristics and shared history
2. Every nation should be self-governing
3. National loyalty should come before all others e.g. Religion tribe or class

Question 49

According to Marx, why is nationalism a form of false class consciousness?

Answer 49

as it helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class

Question 50

How do functionalists see nationalism

Answer 50

Functionalists see nationalism as a secular civil religion
It integrates people into larger social and political units and makes them feel
they belong to something greater than the individual.
It functions as a civil religion.

Question 51

According to functionalists, what role does education play in nationalism?

Answer 51

Education for functionalists, plays an important role in creating social
solidarity involving nationalist symbols e.g. union jack flag and learning
national history (which may be more myth than fact)

Question 52

According to Gellner, why is nationalism a feature of modern societies rather than preindustrial societies?

Answer 52

Pre-industrial societies were not held together by nationalism but by face-to-face small
scale relationships in smaller communities
• Industrialisation has created large scale impersonal societies
• Nationalism makes modern state communication possible by using mass state education
to impose a single standard national culture and language on everyone

Question 53

According to Mannheim, by whom are worldviews created?

Answer 53

sees them as creations of groups of intellectuals who attach themselves to particular classes eg the role gramsci organic intellectuals is to create a working class or socialist worldview

Question 54

Why do these worldviews only give a partial view of reality?

Answer 54

because these intellectuals represent the interests of particular groups, and not society as whole. The belief system of each class or group only gives us partial truth about the world

Question 55

According to Mannheim, what is the source of conflict in society?

Answer 55

Worldviews only give a partial view of reality. Different intellectuals, linked to different groups and classes, produce opposed and antagonistic ideas that justify the interests and claims of their groups as againsts the others

Question 56

In Mannheim’s view, why are the free-floating intelligentsia able to arrive at a total worldview?

Answer 56

The solution is to detach the intellectuals from the social groups they represent
• They should become non-aligned or free-floating intelligentsia so they can bring together different viewpoints
and represent the interests of society as a whole

Question 57

According to feminists, what is the fundamental division in society?

Answer 57

Gender inequality and patriarchal ideology plays a key role in legitimating it

Question 58

According to Pauline Marks, in what ways have ideas from science been used to justify women’s exclusion from education?

Answer 58

suggest how ideas from science have been used to justify excluding women from education. She quotes 19th cen doctors, scientists and educationalists expressed the view that educating women is unfeminine and disqualifies women from their vocation

Question 59

How have religious beliefs embodied the view that women are inferior?

Answer 59

religious beliefs also embody the view that women are inferior by claiming that women are impure/ unclean because of child birth/ menstruation. Must go through purification rituals

Question 60

Give an example of a religious belief that does not subordinate women

Answer 60

this is challenged as not all women are subordinate eg in Hinduism, goddesses have been portrayed as creations of the universe

Question 61

what is the nature of ideology

Answer 61

Nature refers to characteristics such as ideologies being partial, distorted and self-sustaining belief systems

Question 62

what is the role of ideology

Answer 62

role refers to the function of ideology in society, particularly including which social groups would benefit from this.