The Banality of the Social in the Work of the Sciences

• In Event: The continued relevance of ethnomethodological studies of science and mathematics for STS

Abstract

Understanding the intrinsically social character of scientific findings remains a recalcitrant problem in the study of scientific practice: how, for example, does a statement such as ‘the sum of any finite number of even numbers is an even number’ or the claim that water, in some sense, consists of H2O molecules reflect the social circumstances of its discovery? By first considering routine activities of everyday life, this talk suggests that the interactional substance of such findings lies in the observable, technical details of practitioners’ work.

Author

• Eric Livingston, University of New England, Sociology - Criminology