Science under Siege: Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism (Cultural Sociology) - Hardcover

Book 27 of 27: Cultural Sociology
 
9783030696481: Science under Siege: Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism (Cultural Sociology)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 3030696480 ISBN 13: 9783030696481
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

Synopsis

Identifying scientism as religion’s secular counterpart, this collection studies contemporary contestations of the authority of science. These controversies suggest that what we are witnessing today is not an increase in the authority of science at the cost of religion, but a dual decline in the authorities of religion and science alike. This entails an erosion of the legitimacy of universally binding truth claims, be they religiously or scientifically informed. Approaching the issue from a cultural-sociological perspective and building on theories from the sociology of religion, the volume unearths the cultural mechanisms that account for the headwind faced by contemporary science. The empirical contributions highlight how the field of academic science has lost much of its former authority vis-à-vis competing social realms; how political and religious worldviews define particular research findings as favorites while dismissing others; and how much of today’s distrust of science is directed against scientific institutions and academic scientists rather than against science per se.


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

About the Author

Dick Houtman is Senior Professor of Sociology of Culture and Religion at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University, USA.

Stef Aupers is Senior Professor of Media Culture at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Rudi Laermans is Senior Professor of Social Theory at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

From the Back Cover

Identifying scientism as religion’s secular counterpart, this collection studies contemporary contestations of the authority of science. These controversies suggest that what we are witnessing today is not an increase in the authority of science at the cost of religion, but a dual decline in the authorities of religion and science alike. This entails an erosion of the legitimacy of universally binding truth claims, be they religiously or scientifically informed. Approaching the issue from a cultural-sociological perspective and building on theories from the sociology of religion, the volume unearths the cultural mechanisms that account for the headwind faced by contemporary science. The empirical contributions highlight how the field of academic science has lost much of its former authority vis-à-vis competing social realms; how political and religious worldviews define particular research findings as favorites while dismissing others; and how much of today’s distrust of science is directed against scientific institutions and academic scientists rather than against science per se.

Dick Houtman is Senior Professor of Sociology of Culture and Religion at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University, USA.

Stef Aupers is Senior Professor of Media Culture at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Rudi Laermans is Senior Professor of Social Theory at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

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

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date
2021
Language
English
ISBN 10 
3030696480
ISBN 13 
9783030696481
Binding
Hardcover
Edition number
1
Number of pages
258
Editor
Houtman Dick, Aupers Stef, Laermans Rudi

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9783030696511: Science under Siege: Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism (Cultural Sociology)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  3030696510 ISBN 13:  9783030696511
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022
Softcover