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Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line - Softcover

Gieryn, Thomas F. F.

 
9780226292625: Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0226292622 ISBN 13: 9780226292625
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Synopsis

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.

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."




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About the Author

Thomas F. Gieryn is the Rudy Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Indiana University Bloomington.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Publication date
1999
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0226292622
ISBN 13 
9780226292625
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
2
Number of pages
412