Revisiting Merton's Engaged Scholarship for the New Political Sociology of Science

• In Event: 557 - Theory Section Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. The Discipline of Social Thought

Abstract

This paper sets out with the proposition that revisiting Robert K. Merton’s writings on science and its societal context can contribute to a better understanding of the perils and promises of science in contemporary democracies. The first part reconstructs Merton’s main tenets. The second part reevaluates them in relation to current developments and debates. Merton’s sociology of science had an important thrust: to theorize science as an institution in relation to its context. Yet, his theory of science was limited by his focus on the “cultural,” and his implicit assumptions about science and democracy. Juxtaposing these assumptions with the developments in science since the 1930s, I contend that the key move needed in grasping the relations between science and the politico-economic order is to part with the notion of “relative autonomy” of science without discarding institutional analysis.

Author

• Elif Kale-Lostuvali, University of California