Beliefs, Ideology and Science

Question 1

What is pluralist ideology?

Answer 1

where no one particular ideology is able to dominate or claim the only right way of seeing the world

Question 2

explain Althusser’s theory of how the dominant ideology is spread

Answer 2

through ideological state apparatuses which are social institutions

Question 3

Who came up with the concept of hegemony and what is it?

Answer 3

Gramsci 
the dominance of ruling class ideas and acceptance and consent to them by the rest of society

Question 4

what is patriarchal ideology? give an example

Answer 4

a set of ideas that supports and justifies the power of men

parsons arguing women are more suited to the traditional role due to biological differences

Question 5

who says patrarchal ideology plays a part in maintaining male domination over women?

Answer 5

Beauvoir and Saadawi

Question 6

how does marx say that ideas from science are used to justify women’s social exclusion from education?

Answer 6

he quotes 19th century doctors who said educating females would lead to a race of puny, unfeminine females and would disqualify them from their true vocation as nurturers

Question 7

what does Giddens say is the definition of religious ideology/beliefs?
what does he say the 3 main aspects of religious beliefs are

Answer 7

‘shared beliefs and rituals that provide a sense of ultimate meaning and purpose by creating an idea of reality that is sacred, all-encompassing and supernatural.’
belief in supernatural, the faith of believers and a body of unchanging truth

Question 8

give an example of how religion can be part of an ideology

Answer 8

marx believed it was part of the dominant ideology

Question 9

why is science seen differently to religion?

Answer 9

because it claims to rest on the scientific method based on empirical evidence collected under value free, objective conditions

Question 10

what type of system is science according to Popper?

Answer 10

an open belief system open to testing and falsifying

Question 11

what is a closed belief system?

Answer 11

one that cannot be disproved because it relies on faith so rejects and explains way challenges to the belief system.

Question 12

who sees religion as a closed belief system and why?

Answer 12

Horton becuase it makes knowledge claims that cannot be over turned, using get out clauses to prevent the system from being disproved

Question 13

give an example of a closed belief system

Answer 13

Evans-Pritchard’s study of Azande witchcraft - belief system highly resistant to changes and cannot be overturned by evidence

Question 14

how does Polanyi say that beliefs systems sustain themselves in the face of contradictions? 3 things

Answer 14

circularity - each idea is explained in terms of another
subsidary explanations - explained away
denial of legitimacy

Question 15

why do postmodernists reject sciences ability to claim superiority?

Answer 15

caused problems like mad cow disease, superbugs and pollution

Question 16

who says that science as a metanarrative and metanarratives in general have lost authority?

Answer 16

Lyotard

Question 17

who says that belief in the superiority of science is as much an act of faith as belief in God?

Answer 17

Kuhn

Question 18

Who argues that scientists aim to falsify hypothesises an other scientists scrutinise so theories only stand until new evidence shows it is as false, not unquestionably accepted as an act of faith as they are in religion. scientific knowledge is cumulative and builds on previous theories

Answer 18

Popper

Question 19

Kuhn challenges whether scientists aim to falsify their hypothesises and and argues they work within…..

Answer 19

paradigms which are frameworks of scientific laws within which scientists operate.
they are rarely called into question unless the evidence against them is overwhelming
scientists try to fit findings into the existing paradigm so may focus on what they are looking for and fail to see or ignore evidence against
so scientific proof can be an act of faith in scientific values

Question 20

how does kuhn argue science changes?

Answer 20

in leaps through scientific revolutions which take pace as a paradigm breaks down and another takes its place.

Question 21

what do interpretivist sociologists argue about knowledge?

Answer 21

it is all socially constructed rather than objective truth and scientific facts are products of shared paradigms that tell scientists what they should expect to see

Question 22

explain Merton’s CUDOS norms and why he thinks science increased

Answer 22

science increased due to protestant reformation which led to the belief that studying nature was appreciative of God’s work so science received economic support.
science needs
- C communism - scientific knowledge isn’t private property otherwise it can’t grow
- U universalism - the truth of knowledge judged on universal criteria
- D disinterestedness - discovering knowledge for its own sake
- O S organised skepticism - no knowledge claim is sacred all is open to questioning

Question 23

who said that in modernity religious explanations are displaced by scientific explanations as religious beliefs are shown to be wrong? and give an example

Answer 23

Bruce

e.g. evolution showed the creation story to be wrong

Question 24

Aldridge claims we are now in the scientific stage of human understanding what happens in this stage and what does Weber say about it?

Answer 24

we look for rational explanations based on evidence

‘a growing disenchantment with the world.’

Question 25

what does Woolgar claim about scientists interpretations of the world?

Answer 25

they are engaged in the same process of interpreting the world as others and have to decide what evidence means by applying theories and have to persuade others to accept their explanation

Question 26

why might science not be as objective as it claims?

Answer 26

values, beliefs and career aspirations of the scientist influence what they see as worth studying may influence their wishes to prove their hypthesises right

Question 27

what is scientism?

Answer 27

it directly challenges and dismisses religion, belief that the scientific method is the only way to gain true knowledge of the world. most scientists don’t subscribe to it

Question 28

give some evidence of how science has not displaced religion

Answer 28

the growth of mosques: in 1961 there were only 7 in England and Wales by 2005 almost 1700
in the People’s temple 913 people committed suicide