Science Is A Closed System: Benefits Those In Powers Flashcards
Marxists and feminists
Note that many scientific theories and ideas have traditionally benefitted those in positions of power such as men, middle classes and even white society
Example
Early research into mental illness made links between women possessing a uterus and developing alleged mental health condition such as hysteria, this was used by male doctors to justify locking women away in asylums, allowing men to alleviate themselves of the inconvenience of caring for their wives
We now know
That many women were simply suffering from issues such as PMS or post natal depression, which can be managed without the need for extreme medical illness, feminists interpret this as being used as patriarchal control
Postmodernists: knowledge is relative: raise concerns
Scientific fields of knowledge often wrongly claim to possess objective truth or superiority, which can then contribute towards the development of problems in the wider world
Technosciences
Used to benefit capitalism and the western world, rather than allowing everyone in the global community to make equal progress - development of smart phones have done damage such as increasing waste and mental health issues. However developers push ahead as they do not see they damage and put their profit ahead
Evaluation: Advanced
Science has advanced over time and it’s does recognise that mistakes were made in its infancy when it was wrongly used to justify control and oppression of certain social groups. Nowadays it is going in a different direction with being used to understand more about minority groups such as those who do not fit in the heteronormative categories and to benefit some individuals
Evaluation: benefits capitalism to an extent
Although some science developments do seem to benefit the wealthy, it only makes up a small part of scientific work, it could be argued that most scientific research, such as field of healthcare is done to benefit humanity in mind and it is more objectively truthful
