topic 7 - ideology and science

What is a belief system

Sets of ideas that claim to have knowledge about reality

What is a close belief system

Claim to be absolute truth for example religion

3 ways science has impacted society

• wind power

• Entertainment advances

• Quantum computing - be able to create AI more intelligent then humans

What is Open belief system?

System which is open to scrutiny (popper )

Merton

Science can only thrive as a major social institution if it receives support from other institutions and values

The cudos norms

Communism - scientific knowledge is not private property share it with scientific community

Universalism - the truth or falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal objective criteria

Disinterestedness - being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake

Organised Scepticism - every idea is open to questioning, criticism and objective investigation

Self sustaining beliefs

Polgnyi (1958) argues that belief systems have three devices to substain themselves in the face of apparently contradictory evidence:

1. Circularity - each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea within the system and so on round and round

2. Subsidary explanations - basically saying you didn’t do it right

3. Denial of legitimacy to rivals - belief systems reject alternative worldviews by refusing to grant any legitimacy tot heir basic assumptions

Thomas Kuhn

Believed mature science such as geology, biology and physics is based off a set of shared assumptions called paradigm

Working with paradigm = successful career

Any scientist who challenges the fundamental assumptions of the paradigm is likely to get hounded out the profession

Sociology of scientific knowledge

• interpretivsts - all knowleady including scientific knowledge is socially constructed

• Rather than it being absolute truth it is created by social groups

• Scientific ‘facts’ are the product of shared theories or paradigms that tell them what they should expect to see

Post modernists

Also reject the knowledge claims of science to have the ‘truth’

Believe that science is one of a number of meta narratives that falsely claim to possess the truth

Marxists and feminists

See scientific knowledge as far from pure truth, instead they regard it as serving the interests of dominant groups(ruling class + men)

Marxist and ideology

Marxists claim the rich and powerful to own and control two things;

• ruling class ideology includes ideas and beliefs such as; equality will never work because it goes against ‘human nature’

• Victim blaming ideas about poverty ‘ the poor are dumb’

Hegemony

Leadership or dominance especially by one state or social group over others

Organic intellectuals

Challenge authority and inspire

• eg; Marcus rashford

• Martin Luther king

Nationalism claims

• nations are real, distinctive community each with its own unique characteristics and long share history

• Every nation should be self governing

• National loyalty and identity should come before all other such as tribe, class or religion

Anderson - a nation is only a ‘imagined community’ although we identify with it we will never know most of its other members. This imagined community can bind millions of strangers together

Functionalism - nationalism as a civil religion

Nationalism is like a secular civil religion - it integrates individuals into larger social and political units by making them feel part of something greater than themselves

What does gellner believe?

Nationalism and modernity

• gellner also sees nationalism as false consciousness

• He sees nationalism as a very modern phenomenon

Karl mannheim - ideology and utopia

Mannheim believes in two types of belief systems;

• ideology thought

Justifys keeping things as they are. It reflects the position and interest of privileged groups such as capitalist class

• utopian thought

Justifies social change. It reflects the position of the underprivileged and offers a vision of how society could be organised differently

He sees these worldviews as creations of groups of intellectuals who attach themselves to particular classes

According to mannheim the source of conflict in society different intellectuals linked to different groups and classes, produce opposing ideas that justify the interests and claims of their group as against the other

Feminism and ideology

Marks (1979) ideas from science have been used to justify excluding women from education

19th century doctors, scientists and educationalists expressing females would lead to the creation of a ‘new’ face of puny and unfeminine females