Science as Cultural Practice: Producing Knowledge in the Study of UFOs

• In Event: 3483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 11. The Construction and Production of Knowledge

Abstract

Science is a process by which a set of individuals using physical and conceptual instruments produce knowledge that describes reality. To understand science as a modality of knowledge production it is necessary to adopt and apply to the study of science a culture as practice perspective. Culture as practice means that culture is those set of determined and repetitive practices that human beings use and manipulate to navigate the world. While ranging across a massive diversity of actual behaviors, culture as practice also refers to the production of practical knowledge, knowledge which itself refers to practices, or is practically oriented. This practice as it is applied to the social study of science is most heavily influenced by Swidler’s cultural tool kit (Swidler, 1986) and Pierre Bourdieu’s idea of habitus (Bourdieu 1977).
In order to study the practical cultural process of knowledge production in science I will examine the controversy surrounding the scientific study of UFOs in the middle of the 20th century. This historical case is chosen for being a controversy in science, with one side lobbying for a particular scientific investigation, and another side denying the need for that investigation. Studying a controversy such as this will allow for a closer examination of the actual practices deployed by scientists in the course of making claims about the nature of reality. What more the structure and impact of controversies tend to help reveal the submerged or non-obvious processes (Pinch and Leuenberger 2006). The particular set of practices that contribute to scientist’s ability to produce knowledge (and which will be the focus of the current paper) are credibility, expertise and demarcation. These practices represent endogenous elements (endogenous because they are a process within science) with exogenous inputs.

Author

• Timothy Burke Elder, University of Chicago