ideology and science Flashcards
what are beliefs ?
beliefs are ideas about things that we hold to be true. there is a very wide range of of beliefs in society.
what are belief systems?
is only integrated set of ideas, which influence the way that people see the world. belief system can take several forms but the most important are religious, scientific and political.
what is an ideology?
is a set of ideas and values shared by a social group that provides ways of seeing or interpreting the world
how do Marxists see institutions such as education and religion?
producing ruling class ideology and maintaining capitalist hegemony.
examples of ruling class ideas and beliefs ?
Bowles and Gintis theory of meritocracy: everyone has a equal chance in life, so poor must be poor because they are poor and lazy not because of capitalism.
racist ideas about the
what are dominant ideas?
ideas of the ruling class and they function to prevent change by creating a false consciousness
what did Althusser suggest about dominant ideology ?
suggested that dominate ideology was spread through a series of ideological state apparatus which justified the power of the dominant social class.
what do feminists claim about patriarchal ideology?
feminists claim that patriarchal ideology justifies and maintains male dominance and make it appear normal and natural
how do feminist see patriarchal ideology in science and religion
as legitimating gender inequalities
how does Pauline Marks describe how ideas from science have been have been used to exclude women from education?
she quotes 19th (male) doctors, scientists and educationalists who expressed the views that educating females would lead to a creation of “a new race of unfeminine females and disqualify women from their true vocation” - the nurturing of the next generation
what is pluralism?
pluralism is a view that the exercise of controls spread a variety of competing groups with a range of interests
what do pluralistic ideology argue about different ideologies ?
they argue that that not one particular ideology is able to dominate others and that prevailing ideas in society reflecting the interests of the wide group and interests
what is a political ideology?
is one that provides analysis and interpretation of how society should work and suggests how power should be used by governments to influence events and change society through policy making and political action
what impact has science had on our society over the last few decades?
science and technology has revolutionised economic productivity and has meant that our living standards have raised significantly. this success has led to a wide spread “faith in science” a belief that can deliver goods.
has this faith in science ever come into question.
yes, as recently there has been a recognition that science can cause problems such as global warming, weapons mass destruction there as much a product of science as winder drugs, space flight and the internet. science has created it’s own manufactured risks
what is different about science to other beliefs systems
it’s cognitive power, it enables us to explain, predict and control the world in a way that non scientific or pre-scientific belief systems cannot do
why is science an open system?
science is an open system where every scientist’s theory is open to scrutiny criticism and testing by others
how does Merton believe that science can thrive as a major institution ?
Merton argues that science can only thrive as a major institution it it receives support from other institutions and values. he argued that this first occurred in England as a result of the values and attitudes created by the protestant reformation, especially puritanism
what are the Cudos norms
Merton argues like popper that science as an institution needs an “ethos” or set of norms that serve the goal of increasing scientific knowledge
what do the letters stand for is CUDOS
communism
universalism
Disinterestedness
organised scepticism
what does communism mean -(CUDOS)
scientific knowledge is not private property- it is essential that findings can be shared and tested by others by science to grow.
what does universalism mean - (CUDOS)
the truth or falsify of a scientific claim is judged by universal objective testing criteria- not particular to race /country/ sex etc of the person testing it
what does disinterestedness mean-(CUDOS)?
being committed to discovering knowledge for it’s sake. having to punish their finding makes it harder. for scientists to practice fraud- as others can check their claims
what does organised scepticism- (CUDOS)
no knowledge-claim is regarded as “sacred”. every idea is open to questioning, criticism and objective investigation
what are closed belief systems
- religion claims to have the absolute truth
- it is not open to be disproven as science is
- religious organisations hold onto a divine authority
- those who do challenge it’s authority can be punished for hersey
- this means that religious knowledge does not change
- it is fixed and does not grow
what does Robin Horton suggest about science ?
robin Horton sees science as an open belief system- one where knowledge claims are open to criticism and can be disproved by testing. by contrast religion magic and many other belief systems are closed they make knowledge claims that cannot be successfully determined
what does popper mean by falsificationism?
where scientists set to prove a statement wrong
in what sense is witchcraft among the Azande a closed belief system?
it cannot be overturned by evidence because the believes accept basic assumptions that cannot be challenged
why does the case of Velikovsky suggest that science may be a closed system?
because scientists reacted to his new theory by immediate rejection, rather than testing it via scientific means
explain Mannheim’s distinction between “ideology thought” and “utopian thought” ?
ideology thought justifies keeping things as they are and it reflects the position and interests of privileged groups such as the capitalist class. however “utopian thought” justifies social change and reflects the position of of underprivileged and offers a version of how society can be organised differently
what is a false consciousness
ways of thinking (of the oppressed) that are a product of ideology of the ruling class
according to Mannheim why is there no need for a free floating intelligentsia ?
because they would not be attached to any particular interest group and therefore could represent the interest the interest of society as a whole.
what does Gramsci see as the two side of works dual consciousness ?
ruling class ideology and consciousness arising from exploitation and struggle
what do Azande believe is happening when misfortune happens?
- they claim that it is witchcraft
- natural events have natural causes, Azande do not believe in chance or coincidence.
what happens when Azande suspect that that they have been injured by a witch?
- the injured person makes an accusation against the suspected witch.
- they consult a prince who consults his magic poison oracle “benge”.
- a chicken is fed to the benge- if it dies witchcraft has occurred
- the sufferer can then publicly as the witch to stop
- the witch can be doing harm unintentionally
- the accused can apologise and proclaim their honour and promise no further bewitching
what does Evans Pritcharch suggest that witchcraft provides
social functions of witchcraft clears the air.
- encourages neighbours to behave responsibly and considerably
- children control their parents because it is believed that witchcraft is hereditary.
- the belief system is highly resistant to challenge
- it is important control mechanisms to ensure conformity and control
what does Polanyi suggest about belief systems?
argues that belief systems have three devices to keep themselves going into the face of contradictory evidence: belief systems reject alternative world views being wrong. Creationists reject the fact that evolutionists claim the world is billions of years old. they reject fossil evidence and and evolution process
what does Polanyi argue about all beliefs?
all beliefs reject fundamental challenges to their truth claims, and that science is no different
a case to illustrate science as belief system
the case of Immanuel Velikovsky in 1950s shows how science can be a closed belief system as scientists were quick to reject hiss book without looking at it.
why does Kuhn argue that scientists refuse challenges ?
he argues that mature science such as physics is based a set of shared assumptions that he calls a paradigm. the paradigm tells scientist what reality is like, what problems to study, what methods to use, what will count as evidence and what answers they should find
what happens to scientists who challenge the paradigm ?
they are likely to be hanged out of the professions scientists are socialised into the faith and truth of the paradigm
what is a scientific revolution?
there is an exception when a scientist challenges the paradigm. this is where faith and truth in the paradigm has been undermined by a number of abnormalies- results that a paradigm can’t account for
how do interpretivists develop Kuhn’s ideas?
they have developed Kuhn’s ideas and say that all scientific knowledge is socially constructed. it is not objective truth but created by social groups using resources available to them. scientific facts that are taken to be truth are shared theories/paradigms and tell scientists what they expect to see.
what does Karin Knorr-Cetina argue about inventions of new instruments
inventions of new instruments allow scientists to construct new fact. what scientists study in the lab is highly fabricated and far removed from the natural world e.g animals are specifically bred/water is purified
what process does Woogler believe that scientist are involved in?
ethnomethodologist Steve woolgar argues that scientists are involved in the same process as everyone else in the world making sense of it. when they have evidence from their experiments or observations they have to make sense of this. they have to make theories that go with the research. then they have to persuade others to accept their interpretation
what is the case about the discovery of pulsars ?
- Cambridge astronomy unit discovered pulsars (pulsating neutron stars) in 1967.
- they annotated patterns of the printouts showing the pulsars at LGM1 and LGM2.
- if they published this careers would have been over!
- they eventually agreed the patterns of the starts were signals from a type of star unknown to anyone yet- they did not know what the patterns meant.
- however more than a decade later no-one really knew what they meant.
- Wooglar says a scientific fact that is just a belief that every scientist wants everyone else to have but not necessarily based on real thing out there.
how do Marxists and feminists view science
the see science as being far from the truth. instead they see science as serving the needs of the dominate group- in Marxists the ruling class in feminists men. many advantages in science have been driven by the need of capitalism. work on gravity was explored to develop weapons.
why do postmodernists reject the view that science u the truth.
Jean-Francais Lyotard believes that science is a grand meta-narrative that falsely claims the truth. science is just one more discourse, a way of thinking used to dominate people
according to Marxists how do they see society?
Marxists see society as divided into two opposed classes: a minority capitalist ruling class who own the means to production and control the state, and a majority working class who are property less and therefore forced to sell their labour to the capitalist
what must happen in order for a revolution to occur?
for a revolution to occur, the working class must first become conscious of their true position as exploited “wage-slaves”- they must develop class consciousness
what is the ruling class ideology and how is this created?
ideas that legitimate or justify the status quo (the existing social set up). it is created when the ruling class control the means of production of ideas, through institutions such as education, mass media and religion.
what are victim-blaming ideas?
victim blaming ideas about poverty, such as what Bowles and Gintis call “the poor are dumb” theory of meritocracy: everyone has an equal chance in life, so the poor, must be poor because they are stupid and lazy.
how do racist ideas support ruling class ideology?
racist ideas about the inferiority of ethnic minorities, which divide black and white workers and make them easier to rule.
what does Gramsci refer to the ruling class as ?
hegemony. working class can develop ideas that can challenge the ruling class ruling class ideology. this is because of dual consciousness. it is therefore possible for working class to develop class consciousness. this requires a group of people known as organic intellectuals (political party who have developed class consciousness)
what does hegemony mean
The authority, dominance, and influence of one group, nation, or society over another group, nation, or society; typically through cultural, economic, or political means.
what does nationalism claim?
- nations are real distinct communities each with it’s own unique characteristics and shared history.
- every nation should be self-governing.
- national loyalty should come before all others e.g. religion tribe or class
how Marxists view nationalism?
in the Marxists view, nationalism is a form of false consciousness that help to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class.
why do Marxists view nationalism as a false consciousness?
this is because nationalism encourages workers to believe they have in common with the capitalists of their own country than with workers from other countries.
how do functionalists see nationalism?
see nationalism as a secular civil religion. it integrates people into larger social and political units and makes them feel that they belong to something greater than the individual it functions as a civil religion.
how does education play an important role in creating social solidarity?
education for functionalists, plays an important role in creating social solidarity involving nationalists symbols e.g. the union jack flag and learning national history
what does Geller suggest nationalism is?
nationalism is a false consciousness. in Geller’s view nationalism is a modern phenomenon. Pre-industrial societies were not held together by nationalism but by face-to-face small scale relationships in smaller communities.
how does Manheim see belief systems
all belief systems have a one-sided or partial view. All beliefs fall under two broad groups.
what are the two broad groups that beliefs fall under identified by Manheim?
ideological thought- justifies keeping things as they are. it reflects the position and interests of privileged groups such as capitalist class. these groups benefit from maintaining the status quo, favours hierarchy.
utopian thought- justifies social change. it reflects positions and interests of the underprivileged and offers a vison of how society could be organised differently
