Topic 7 - Science and Ideology Flashcards
(35 cards)
1
Q
The impact of science
A
- Science = rationalisation (Protestant reformation - 16th century)
- Secularisation theorists = science impacted the influence of religion in the world (empirical = verificationism and fact)
- Cognitive power = allows us to explain through knowledge
- Eradicated diseases through medicine
- Improved standards of living, e.g., through transport, communication, and work lives
- “Faith in science” and belief it can “deliver the goods”
2
Q
A03 The impact of science
A
- Science can also cause problems, e.g., science and technology are responsible for global warming
- Sceince creates “manufactured risks”
3
Q
Open belief system
A
- POPPER = science is an open belief system where every scientist’s theory is open to scrutiny, criticism, and testing by others
- Falsification: seeking new theories that discredit the old ones (T&M), allows science to grow, scientific knowledge is cumulative
- Can never be considered the MoT
- E.g., Copernicus disproved the Sun revolved around the Earth (knowledge claim was fake)
4
Q
The cudos norms
A
- MERTON science is now a major social institution and recieves support from other institutions and values
- England = attitudes created by the Protestant Reformation, Puritanism (link Calvinism)
- Puritans have focus on this worldly benefit, and value social welfare, science could provide technological interventions to inprove society
- Religion and science exist as co-existing narratives
- POPPER = science needs an ethos/goals:
1. Communism
2. Universalism
3. Disinterestedness
4. Organised scepticism
5
Q
Communism
A
- Science is not private property, scientists must share their findings = knowledge grows
6
Q
Universalism
A
- The truth of a discovery is to be judged by objective rather than subjective criteria (e.g., race and sex)
7
Q
Disinterestedness
A
- Being committed to the pursuit of knowledge
- Makes it difficult to destroy the validity of science, e.g., publishing fraudulent results
8
Q
Organised scepticism
A
- No scientific knowledge is considered to be the “sacred truth”
- Allows science to be subject to falsification, allowing it to grow
9
Q
Closed belief system - How religion is different to science
A
- Religion difference to science (falsification)
- Religion claims to have an absolute sacred truth and hold onto “God’s Divine Authority”, those who challenge this seen as sacrilegious
- Religion is not open to falsification = fixed and does not grow
- HORTON religious beliefs do not grow, but make knowledge claims that cannot be successfully overturned
- Religion has “get-out clauses” that reinforce the system and prevent it from being disproved
- EVANS-PRITCARD vary from one belief system to another, e.g., Witchcraft beliefs (AZANDE tripe)
10
Q
Witchcraft and the Azande
A
- Azande people of Sudan believe natural events have natural causes, e.g., snake bit because someone accidentally stepped on it as someone was walking down the path
- They do not believe in chance, e.g., walked down the path lots of times, so why now?
- When misfortune does stike the Azande claim that witchcraft is to blame, e.g., the work of an evil neighbour (a witch)
1. An injured person makes an accusation against a suspected witch
2. A prince is consulted, and gives a benge/potion to a chicken
3. If the chicken dies, the witch was rightly accused and the suffered can go publically and demand an apology
11
Q
What is the purpose of Azande ritual
A
- EVANS PRITCHARD claim this belief system serves social functions, helps clear the air between neighbours and also encourages them to act sociably towards one another
- Azande believe that witchcraft is hereditary, it is passed from father to son, mother to daughter, accusation has familial reprecussions
- Cooporation and conformity (social solidarity)
12
Q
Chicken and the Benge
A
- Benge fed to the chicken will cause the chicken to die
- This death does not disprove evil, reinforces the idea of witchcraft
- EVANS PRITCHARD trapped within their own idiom of belief
13
Q
How do closed systems survive
A
- POLANYI: they are self-sustaining:
1. Circulatory
2. Subsidiary explanations
3. Denial of legitimacy to rivals
14
Q
Circulatory
A
- Ideas within the belief system are connected to eachother, making it hard to criticise one in isolation, e.g., witchcraft and the benge are reliant
15
Q
Subsidary explanation
A
- If the benge fails to kill, it disproves the accusation of witchcraft, not the validity of witchcraft in the first place
16
Q
Denial of legitimacy to rivals
A
- Closed belief systems reject alternative worldviews by refusing to grant any legitimacy to the basic assumptions
- E.g., Creationism refuses to accept the legitimecy of evolution, even though empirical scientific evidence exists
17
Q
A03 Is science really an open system?
A
- POPPER believes that unlike religion, science is open to falsification and this allows for it to develop
- However, POLYANI beliefs that all belief systems, regardless of whether they are open or closed, reject all fundamental changes
18
Q
The case of Dr Velikovsky
A
- 1950: DR VELIKOVSKY “Worlds in Collision” and challenged the theory about the origins of earth
- He challenged basical fundamentals about astrology, geology, and evolutionary biology
- His text was banned
- Some scientists willing to look at the work were fired
19
Q
KUHN and paradigms
A
- KUHN argues all mature sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics or natural sciences all have similar beliefs = paradigms
- Paradigms = tells scientists what reality is like, what problem to study, and what method they should use to study them (like solving a puzzle)
- Scientists who follow this are arawded and suggessful, e.g., Nobel Peace Prize
- “Methods of inquiry” = science as a closed system
- Challenging the system results in the scientist being ridicules anf hounded
- Rare occasion a scientific revolution may occur = only then is science open to new ideas (paradigms change)
20
Q
A03 The sociology of scientific knowledge
A
Interpretivist sociologists developed KUHN’s ideas:
1. All knowledge is socially constructed
2. Loses its objectivity and becomes subjective, e.g., an astrologer discovers scientific facts through approved paradigm of using a teloscope
- KNORR-CETINA when the teloscope was first created, it allowed scientists to fabricate new facts
- Invention of these instruments allowed scientists to create the world around them
21
Q
Little green man
A
- WOOLGAR scientists have to make sense of the world and have to decide what new evidence means when presented with it
- E.g., in 1967 scientists discovered “pulsars” signs from a star, labelled this LGM1 and LGM2 (Little Green Man)
- This would be deemed as unacceptable by the scientific community so settled on the idea that signals were from a star unknown to science
- A decade later the scientists could still not decide what was causing the signals
- WOOLGAR = Labelling the pulsars LGM scientists were trying to make sense and construct fact
- The scientific community were not open to LGM label = is science really an open system?
22
Q
Conflict perspectives and science
A
- Feminists and Marxists see scientific knowledge from far from the truth but as serving the interests of the dominant group (feminists = men) (marxists = bourgeoisie)
- Marxists see the development of weaponary as being allied to science, serving the powerful
- Feminists argue turning science into a grand narrative makes it a new form of patriarchy
- Science = ideology
- LYOTARD (PM) rejects the idea that science “holds the truth” = science is a meta-narrative that falsly claims to know the truth
- Science = technoscience to serve the interests of capitalsim by producing commodities for profit
23
Q
Ideology
A
- A one-sided view of reality
- Ideas that conceal the interests of a particular group
- A self-sustained belief system that is irrational and closed to criticism
24
Q
Marxism and ideology
A
- Pivots on the fact there is opposition between the proletariat and bourgeoisie
- Proletariat must form a revolution and overthrow capitalism, but instead see their exploitation as natural (false-class conscience LENIN spiritual gin)
- Produce ideology (rich) by ISA (ALTHUSSER) whereby they control the ideas of the Proletariat inc. education, mass media, and religion
1. Equality will never work as it goes against human nature
2. Victims blame themselves for poverty rather than the ruling class = BOWLES and GINTIS “Poor are Dumb” = continuing Exploitation
3. Racist ideas about inferiority of ethnic minorities, making them easier to rule - MARX wants a revolution to overthrow capitalism
25
Hegemony and revolution
- GRAMSCI argue the W/C can develop ideas, which challenge the M/C hegemony/superiority
- Workers have a "dual-consciousness" (mixture of W/C and M/C beliefs) = working class have an experience within their exploitation
- Possible to overthrow the system
- GRAMSCI organic intellectuals need to allow W/C opportunity to represent and develop a proletariat self-consciousness
26
A03 Hegemony and revolution
- ABERCROMBIE ET AL argue this is not a dominant ideology that keeps people in line and prevents the revolution but economic factors e.g., threat of losing their job is what prevents rebellion
27
The ideology of nationalism
- Nations are real, distinctive communities with their own characteristics and history
- Every nation should self-govern
- National loyalty and identity should come before all others, e.g., religion and class
- LINK education (national curriculum), however, ethnocentric
28
Marxists stance on nationalism
- Maintains the false class consciousness and prevents the overthrow of capitalism by dividng the international working class
- MARX (Internationalist) "workers of all countries, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win"
- Nationalism encourages workers to believe that they have more in common with capitalists of their own country than workers of other countries
- Enables the bourgeoisie to persuade the proletariat to fight wars on their behalf
29
Functionalism - Nationalism as Civil religion
- BELLAH nationalism is a form of civil religion and intergrates people into a larger social/political unit (provides social solidarity and collectivist consciousness = feel part of something greater than themselves)
- Modern societies are more secular but are willing to see themselves as part of a nation
- Lots of diversity in modern society with many different religious beliefs = nationalism unites people of different faiths - "One Nation Under God - US", pledge of alliance, and national anthems
30
Nationalism and modernity
- GELLNER sees nationalism as a false consciousness
- Nationalism is a modern phenomenon: pre-industrial societies were held together by small scale face-to-face communities, not nationalism
- Modern societies have a complex division of labour and needs communication/cooperation on a mass scale and nationalism makes this possible, e.g., mass education system which instils national culture
- GELLNER Elites use nationalism as an ideology to motivate populations of endure hardship (LINK alienation)
31
Ideology and Utopia
- MANNHEIM's work is associated with the eras between the 2 world wars (intense political/social conflict)
- MANNHEIM = all belief system are a result of a one-sided view and only benefit one group, and so believes there are 2 types of belief system:
1. Ideological thought - Reflects the position and interests of the privileged groups, e.g., capitalist class, these benefit hierarchy and maintain the status quo
2. Utopian thought - Justifies social change and reflects the position/interests of the underprivileged, offering a vision as to how society could be structures differently "awakening the working class from their flase-class consciousness"
- MANNHEIM 2 different kind of "organic intellectuals" who attach themselves to these different thoughts
- Creates a partial truth and views will always remain opposed
- Different intellectuals attached to different groups produce opposed and antaonistic ideas
32
MANNHEIM and Intelligentsia
- The only way to end the conflict between IT and UT is through the emergence of a detached group
- Synthesise a group who can take from the old and provide a total world view = free-floating intelligentsia
33
A03 MANNHEIM and Intelligentsia
- Is this possible?
- E.g., Capitalism is diametrically opposed to Communism
- Radically different belief systems
34
Feminism and ideology
- Patriarchal ideology as the most significant problem, it affects all layers of societyand legitimises gender inequality
- MARKS argues science was used to justify women being excluded from education in the 19th century, e.g., doctors claims educating women = unfeminine
- Patriarchal ideologies in science = embodied within religion and used to subordinate women, worship/childbirth used to show women as inferior, unclean due to childbirth
35
A03 Feminism and ideology
- History paints a different feminist ideology
- Prior to monotheistic religions (belief in almighty God) women were often painted as superior within a patriarchal society
- Depicted as religious Godesses, religion can be constructed
- Hinduism = polytheistic religion (belief in 1 God) Godesses are often creators of the universe
