When Environmental DNA Confronted its Dual Nature: Refining Environmental Sociology’s Engagement with Natural Science

• In Event: 2149 - Taking Stock of Environmental Sociology: Trends, Strengths, Silences, and Innovative New Research Directions

Abstract

The so-called realist versus constructivist debate in environmental sociology has by now largely subsided. It is presently clear to most environmental sociologists that their work should appreciate what Richard Levins calls the “dual nature” of science, or that science is at once political and explanatory. There is a key area, however, where existing work remains unduly silent. It is on how natural scientists, especially those that environmental sociologists rely upon, directly negotiate the dual nature of science, in particular the struggle of producing actionable knowledge within charged political and biophysical spaces. For reasons I explain, this hole cannot simply be plugged with existing work in the sociology of science alone. To address this gap, here I rely upon document analysis and 32 semi-structured interviews to analyze how the deployment of a novel biological detection technology, called environmental DNA, set in motion a crisis in the American Midwest regarding the robustness of specific scientific activities. In performing this analysis, I demonstrate that a more developed understanding of how scientific knowledge is created during times of crisis, as well as how scientists struggle to interpret and manage various social and biophysical concerns, can provide a more refined engagement with natural science.

Author

• Jordan Fox Besek, State University of New York at Buffalo