L10 Discourse Analysis, Foucault Flashcards
Describe Gilbert and Mulkay’s (1984) Discourse Analysis of Science
Understanding how scientists’ talk (repertoires) is organized to convey different conceptions of what science is
and
how it is done on different occasions and in different contexts.
In what settings do scientists use both the Empiricist and Contingent Repertoire when discussing science according to Gilbert and Mulkay?
Informal Settings
Formal Settings only use Empiricist Repertoire.
What did Gilbert and Mulkay mean when they said scientists use an asymmetrical pattern of accounting for ‘correct’ and ‘false’ belief when comparing their work against others?
That scientist’s when describing their own (‘correct’) work would talk in empirical terms, but describe errors (or others conflicting work) with a contingent repertoire.
Why is the contingent repertoire when discussing science necessary?
It allows scientists to maintain the basic idea of the Empiricist Repertoire
(facts arise naturally from experimental findings)
even in the face of persistent evidence that other scientists regularly seem to get their facts wrong.
It’s a protective rhetorical device
What was Gilbert and Mulkay’s conclusion in regards to scientific language?
The Empiricist Repertoire alone is inadequate for explaining science in practice.
What kind of scientific view is empiricist repertoire?
The received view of science
What is the current prevailing view of academic understanding in Studies in Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK)
That academic understanding moved away from belief in the idea that science is practised according to a set of commonly-agreed norms organised around something that can be referred to as the ‘experimental method’
What’s the difference between the Received View and Constructionist View for Psychology?
Received View: Psychology is an objective scientific measure
Constructionist View: Psychology involves chosen tests and people and therefore you need to be able to make inferences about the results and so it is not objective, we are inferring results.
What is the Social Constructivist criticism of knowledge we get from psychological tests?
The ways in which people are perceived, described and categorized by psychologists all depend on the technologies that make these activities of measurement and description possible.
Our knowledge claims depend on our methods for measuring.
Social Constructionists say that it’s misleading to propose a straightforwardly realist view of objects in the natural world.
What alternative account of the scientific process do they suggest?
An alternative account of the scientific process:
1) emphasizes the ways in which science constructs its objects within the context of changing social situations,
2) changing configurations of equipment and method.
Social Constructionists claim that scientific knowledge is not determined by the actual character of the physical world, but is instead influenced by what?
Influenced by the social relations, beliefs, and value systems that pertain within scientific communities.
What is ‘the slogan of social studies of science’
‘What counts as successful scientific knowledge is a social construct.’
Social Constructionists say that science shouldn’t be considered as either a unitary set of methods or procedures or as a universal practice.
Why?
What counts as ‘science’ varies over time.
Is science primarily an individualistic and mentalistic activity according to Social Constructionists?
No
It is a social process that takes place within a community and therefore it’s responsive to the prevalent values, beliefs and expectations of that community.
Are social constructionists anti science?
Why?
No
They point out that the practices of science aren’t captured well by philosophical reconstructions of what science is, nor even by scientists’ own descriptions of science.
