Beliefs- Ideology and science Flashcards
Science as a belief system- Open belief systems - Popper
• Science is seen as an ‘open’ belief system through how it is open to scrutiny and criticism. Science is governed by the principle of falsification, scientists set out to try and falsify existing theories and try to disprove them.
• If they succeed, the theory can be discarded and the search for a better explanation can begin.
Scientific knowledge is cumulative, it builds on the achievements of previous scientists to develop greater research.
Science as a belief system- Closed belief systems - Horton
• Opposing science, religion is a closed belief system which cannot be challenged, those who do used to be punished.
• Distinguishes between an open and closed belief system, science is an open belief system however such topics as religion or magic are closed due to how they cannot be successfully overturned.
Science as a belief system-Witchcraft among the Azande - Evans-Pritchard
• The Azande believe that when misfortune befalls someone, they believe that it is due to witchcraft.
• The injured may make an accusation against the suspected witch, the benge (council) will therefore perform a ritual to investigate.
• He argues that this belief system performs useful social functions such as preventing grudges and forcing neighbours to act accordingly to one another.
• He also notes that the Azande beliefs are closed, in the event of any criticism they would just proclaim that it wasn’t a good Benge. The argument would reinforce their beliefs, not disprove it.
Science as a belief system- Closed belief systems
• Others claim that science as a belief system can be seen as a closed system of belief.
• Polanyi argued that all belief systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge-claims (science is no different)
• Kuhn argues that mature science such as geology, biology and physics is based on a shared set of assumptions that he calls a paradigm.
• Scientific education and training is the process of being socialised into the truth of the paradigm.
• Those who disregard the paradigms were likely to be punished, however during such events as scientific revolutions (where the truth of a paradigm is undermined by anomalies), only then do scientists become open to radically new ideas.
Science as a belief system- The sociology of scientific knowledge
• Interpretivist sociologists argue that all knowledge is socially constructed, they believe that knowledge is created by social groups using the resources they have.
• Scientific ‘facts’ are the product of shared theories or paradigms that tell scientists what they should expect to see
• Woolgar (1992) argues that scientists are engaged constantly in trying to interpret the world, when confronted by evidence from their observations they have to extract its meaning. They also then have to persuade others to share their views.
• Postmodernists reject the knowledge-claims of science to have ‘the truth’.
• Lyotard believes that science is one of a number of meta-narratives that falsely claims to possess the truth about how the world works as a means of progress to a better society whereas in reality science just is a way to dominate people.
Ideology- Marxism and Ideology - Gramsci
• Proposes the ideas of the ruling class’ ideological domination of society, known as hegemony.
• The working class have a dual consciousness when they follow the ruling class ideology while using their own exploitation to create their individualistic ideas.
• It is therefore possible for the working class to develop class consciousness and overthrow the capitalists through revolution.
❌ However, some critics argue that it’s not the existence of a dominant ideology that keeps workers in line and prevents revolution. Abercrombie et al believes that it’s the economic factors such as unemployment.
Ideology- The ideology of nationalism
• Nationalism is an important political ideology. Its main claims are that nations are distinctive communities with their own unique characteristics, every nation should be self-governing and national loyalty and identity should come before all.
• Marx views nationalism as a form of false class consciousness that helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class.
• Functionalists see nationalism as a secular civil religion, it integrates individuals into larger social and political units by making them feel part of something greater than themselves
• Gellner sees nationalism as false consciousness, its modern view sees pre-industrial societies that were held together not by nationalism, but by face-to-face relationships in small-scale communities with a fixed hierarchy and ascribed statuses.
• Nationalism allows for communication within this society, by using the education syster to impose a single standard language on every member and makes economic and soch) cooperation easier through the equality of its members.
Ideology- Feminism and Ideology
• Marks describes how ideas from science have been used to justify excluding women from education,
• e.g. the exclusion of training women to be doctors/scientists leading to the creation of ‘puny and unfeminine’ women and ‘disqualifying women from their vocation’.
• The patriarchal ideologies embodied in religious beliefs have also been used to define women as inferior,
e.g. through the ‘purifying’ of women after birth or how women are seen as unclean,
particularly due to menstruation
❌ However, not all elements of religious beliefs subordinate women, e.g. matriarchal religions with female deities and female priests.
