Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies

Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies PDF

Author: N. Elias

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 9400977298

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In recent years sociologists of sciences have become more interested in scien tific elites, in the way they direct and control the development of sciences and, beyond that, in which the organization of research facilities and resources generally affects research strategies and goals. In this volume we focus on scientific establishments and hierarchies as a means of bringing aspects of these concerns together in their historical and comparative contexts. These terms draw attention to the fact that much scientific work has been pursued within a highly specific organizational setting, that of universities and aca demic research institutes. The effects of this organizational setting as well as its power relations, and its resources in relation to governmental and other non-scientific establishments in society at large, deserve closer attention. One significant aspect of scientific establishments and hierarchies and of the power relations impinging upon scientific research, is the fact that the bulk of leading scientists have the professional career, qualifications and status of a professor. As heads or senior members of departments, institutes and laboratories, professors form the ruling groups of scientific work. They are the main defenders of scientific - or departmental - autonomy, accept or resist innovations in their field, play a leading part in fighting scientific controversies or establishing consensus. Even where research units are not directly controlled by professors, authority structures usually remain strongly hierarchical. These hierarchies too deserve attention in any explora tion of the social characteristics of scientific knowledge and its production.

Hierarchy in Natural and Social Sciences

Hierarchy in Natural and Social Sciences PDF

Author: Denise Pumain

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-02-09

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1402041276

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Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the parts of the system. It is frequently observed within the natural living world as well as in social institutions. According to the authors, hierarchy results from random processes, follows an intentional design, or is the result of the organisation which ensures an optimal circulation of energy for information. This book reviews ancient and modern representations and explanations of hierarchies, and compares their relevance in a variety of fields, such as language, societies, cities, and living species. It throws light on concepts and models such as scaling laws, fractals and self-organisation that are fundamental in the dynamics and morphology of complex systems. At a time when networks are celebrated for their efficiency, flexibility and better social acceptance, much can be learned about the persistent universality and adaptability of hierarchies, and from the analogies and differences between biological and social organisation and processes. This book addresses a wide audience of biologists and social scientists, as well as managers and executives in a variety of institutions.

Routledge Library Editions: Artificial Intelligence

Routledge Library Editions: Artificial Intelligence PDF

Author: Various

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-06-23

Total Pages: 2732

ISBN-13: 0429960689

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"Artificial Intelligence" (AI) a term coined in the 1950s actually dates back as far as 1943. Now very much in the public consciousness, AI research has fallen in and out of favour over the years. Routledge Library Editions: Artificial Intelligence (10 Volumes) brings together as one set, or individual volumes, a small interdisciplinary series of previously out-of-print titles, originally published between 1970 and 1994. Covering ground in computer science, literature, philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy and sociology, this set is a fascinating insight into the development of ideas surrounding AI.

Reflections on Process Sociology and Sport

Reflections on Process Sociology and Sport PDF

Author: Joseph Maguire

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1135725047

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The book focuses on the distinctive contribution that Joseph Maguire has made to process sociology and the study of sport. Maguire’s work over the past three decades highlights how process sociology has a unique perspective on the relationship between sport, culture and society, and to the body, globalisation and civilisational analysis. Reflecting on this body of work and the use of process sociology, Maguire captures the research dynamic of ‘walking the line' between involvement and detachment, theory and observation, and engagement and critique. The book is structured around four broad sections: Theory, Sport and Society; The Meaning of Sport, Body and Society; Case Studies in Sport and Process Sociology; Globalisation, Sport and Civilisational Analysis. Providing an introduction to, and key examples of, a process sociology approach to the study of sport, the body, civilising processes and globalisation, this book will appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in sport studies / sports science degrees, sociology, cultural studies and to those studying migration, globalisation and cross cultural civilisation relations. This book was previously published as a Special Issue of Sport in Society.

Science and the Media

Science and the Media PDF

Author: Massimiano Bucchi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1134657404

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In the days of global warming and BSE, science is increasingly a public issue. This book provides a theoretical framework which allows us to understand why and how scientists address the general public. The author develops the argument that turning to the public is not simply a response to inaccurate reporting by journalists or to public curiosity, nor a wish to gain recognition and additional funding. Rather, it is a tactic to which the scientific community are pushed by certain "internal" crisis situations. Bucchi examines three cases of scientists turning to the public: the cold fusion case, the COBE/Big Bang issue and Louis Pasteur's public demonstration of the anthrax vaccine, a historical case of "public science." Finally, Bucchi presents his unique model of communications between science and the public, carried out through the media. This is a thoughtful and wide-ranging treatment of complex contemporary issues, touching upon the history and sociology of science, communication and media studies. Bucchi's theories on scientific communication in the media are a valuable contribution to the current debate on this subject.

Defining Science

Defining Science PDF

Author: Charles Alan Taylor

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780299150341

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The author (speech communication, Indiana U.) divides the subject into six chapters on the rhetorical ecology of science; philosophical perspectives--of propositions, procedures and politics; historical and social studies of science; demarcating science rhetorically; science and creation science; and cold fusion. In his discussion of cold fusion, he describes it not as a case study in how "nonscientific behavior sullied the public ethos of real science," but rather as a case that serves to "alert us to the inescapably human dimensions of real science so that we might appreciate its strengths without wishing away its imperfections." The bibliography is extensive. For scholars in the field. Paper edition (unseen), $22.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Science for Public Policy

Science for Public Policy PDF

Author: H. Brooks

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2013-10-22

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1483286606

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Since World War II, national and international policy makers have been confronted by a growing number of complex problems the resolution of which hangs, to a significant degree, on scientific knowledge or technical insights. This puts a premium on the quality and clarity of scientific/technical advice they receive. From their vantage points as scientists, policy makers or science advisors from both East and West, the authors of this book examine the issues involved in science for public policy and explore ways to improve the quality and timeliness of the scientific advice available to decision makers. Environmental problems provide much of the focus for the analysis.

Expository Science: Forms and Functions of Popularisation

Expository Science: Forms and Functions of Popularisation PDF

Author: T. Shinn

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1985-06-30

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9027718318

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The prevailing view of scientific popularization, both within academic circles and beyond, affirms that its objectives and procedures are unrelated to tasks of cognitive development and that its pertinence is by and large restricted to the lay public. Consistent with this view, popularization is frequently portrayed as a logical and hence inescapable consequence of a culture dominated by science-based products and procedures and by a scientistic ideology. On another level, it is depicted as a quasi-political device for chan nelling the energies of the general public along predetermined paths; examples of this are the nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution and the U. S. -Soviet space race. Alternatively, scientific popularization is described as a carefully contrived plan which enables scientists or their spokesmen to allege that scientific learn ing is equitably shared by scientists and non-scientists alike. This manoeuvre is intended to weaken the claims of anti-scientific protesters that scientists monopolize knowledge as a means of sustaining their social privileges. Pop ularization is also sometimes presented as a psychological crutch. This, in an era of increasing scientific specialisation, permits the researchers involved to believe that by transcending the boundaries of their narrow fields, their endeavours assume a degree of general cognitive importance and even extra scientific relevance. Regardless of the particular thrust of these different analyses it is important to point out that all are predicated on the tacit presupposition that scientific popularization belongs essentially to the realm of non-science, or only concerns the periphery of scientific activity.

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