Description
Book SynopsisThe sociology of science is dominated today by relativists who boldly argue that the content of science is not primarily determined by evidence from the empirical world but is instead socially constructed in the laboratory.
Making Science is the first serious critique by a sociologist of the social constructivist position.
Trade ReviewFor the general audience, [
Making Science] offers a broad analysis of realism and relativism in science and helps shake sociologists out of a simple, positivist view of science, scientists, and their conduct. For specialists in the sociology of science, Cole’s new book brings to bear a demanding appraisal of constructivism, and perhaps most consequentially, it demonstrates the need for continuing assessment of science as an occupation, institution, and activity. -- Mary Frank Fox * Contemporary Sociology *
Presents a wealth of empirical material on the vast scope of anomalies and irregularities in the work of the scientific community. The survey includes a good deal of valuable material originating with the author and his collaborators. -- Alexander Vucinich * Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences *
Table of ContentsPreface 1. Nature and the Content of Science 2. Constructivist Problems in Accounting for Consensus 3. Constructivist Problems in Demonstrating Causality 4. Luck and Getting an NSF Grant 5. Consensus in the Natural and Social Sciences 6. Evaluation and the Characteristics of Scientists 7. Is Science Universalistic? 8. Conceptualizing and Studying Particularism in Science 9. Social Influences on the Rate of Scientiflc Advance 10. The Future of the Sociology of Science Appendix: The COSPUP NSF Peer Review Experiment Notes References Name Index Subject Index
