The continued relevance of ethnomethodological studies of science and mathematics for STS

Session Submission Type: Traditional (Closed) Panel

Abstract

Ethnomethodology is sometimes recognized in STS as having been important for the turn to practice that began in the 1970s. The reflexive examination of social science methods by ethnomethodologists provided a basis for studies day-to-day natural science practices, elementary and advanced mathematical work, and technology design and use. Although ethnomethodology has not quite become ‘merely of historical interest’ for STS, it also is not very much in evidence at the present time. It has been seamlessly, and often invisibly, incorporated into a commitment that runs through much of STS to treat science as ‘construction all the way down’.

The purpose of this panel is to demonstrate that, and how, ethnomethodology remains relevant to STS, not only as a precursor but also as an approach that continues to explore conceptual and empirical lacunae that tend to be neglected (as though already settled) in studies of the sciences and mathematics. As STS has expanded into ever-broader domains of scientific, medical, and other activity, the so-called ‘hard’ cases of physical science and mathematics are less often addressed in substantive practical detail. The studies in this panel come to terms with what is ‘hard’ (in the sense of being both practically challenging and difficult to translate into common idioms) about natural scientific and mathematical practices. Such studies are especially pertinent at a time when expertise is being demeaned and scientific advice has become all-too-easily dismissed in public life.

Sub Unit

• Closed Panels

Individual Presentations

• The Disappearance of “Discovery” as a Topic in Science and Technology Studies: An attempt at retrieval and ethnomethodological respecification - Jeff Coulter, Boston University; Michael Lynch, Cornell Univ.

• “How did that feel”: Managing and monitoring pain in cognitive neuroscience experiments - David Matthew Edmonds, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; David Matthew Edmonds, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• The Banality of the Social in the Work of the Sciences - Eric Livingston, University of New England, Sociology - Criminology

Session Organizer

• Michael Lynch, Cornell Univ.