What are some good books on the social dynamics of science?
October 13, 2008 10:18 AM   Subscribe

What are some good books on the social dynamics of science?

I don't get why celebrity gossip is so popular when the rivalries in science are so fascinating. I'm looking for a (few) good book(s) on the social dynamics of modern (and not so modern) science. I'm not looking for books that detail specific rivalries or books that focus on the researchers who didn't receive the aknowlegment they deserved (Rosalin Franklin, Nicola Tesla etc..). These books can be fascinating (and feel free to mention any particularly good ones), but I'm looking for more of a survey of the general state of affairs for beginners.

I'm looking for books that explore the social dynamics generally - like a basic sociology of science. I've heard this is a whole field of study but it's a new topic for me and honestly I don't know where to begin, and I was hoping some avid readers could steer me towards a good starting point. A professor recommended a book with "Black Box" in the title that is about the Kandel Lab (he couldn't remember the whole title or author), but I had trouble finding it on Amazon.
posted by abirae to Science & Nature (16 answers total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Looks like this is the book your professor recommended.

On the more theoretical side, an excellent starting point for the sociology of science would be the work of Thomas Kuhn.
posted by Acheman at 10:45 AM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: I haven't read it, but Beamtimes and Lifetimes is by a Rice University anthropologist who studies the social structure of a tribe of high-energy physicists.
posted by Killick at 10:51 AM on October 13, 2008


Response by poster: Thanks Acheman! Susan Allport's book must be the one!

Thomas Kuhn's work indeed looks fascinating. He looks like an excellent starting point for understanding the philosophical context surrounding science in the 20th century, but scope is a little more philosophical than what I initially had in mind. I'm looking for perspectives on the social dynamics of dynasties, storytelling and cultural transmission that's more the domain of Shakespeare, Kitty Kelly and Barbara Myerhoff. I'm now realizing what a tall order this is.

In retrospect, Kuhn might be perfect for looking at how the results of scientific inquiry are transmitted as stories and modified by future generations. I guess I'm also interested in reading about how it's decided who gets to tell the stories. Maybe this is more anthropology than sociology...
posted by abirae at 11:04 AM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: Kuhn is more philosophy than sociology.
posted by futility closet at 11:04 AM on October 13, 2008


Response by poster: Thanks Killick! Beamtimes & Lifetimes sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.
posted by abirae at 11:07 AM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: There's always The Eighth Day of Creation, which is a history of molecular biology and deservedly a classic.

I think "Science studies" is the term used for this field, which does indeed encompass a variety of disciplines. But I'm not sure how to drill down from science studies to the specific type of research you're looking for.
posted by yarrow at 11:27 AM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: I highly recommend anything written by Bruno Latour, especially Laboratory Life and Science in Action. Some of his books get more philosophical, but those two are particularly aimed at analyzing the process by which experiments (involving money, people, publications) are used to produce scientific facts.
posted by voltairemodern at 11:29 AM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything" has plenty of scandal and dirt dished about various historical scientists. He covers some big scientific concepts, includes entertaining biographical snippets of the sceintists involved (and their bitter feuds) and covers a few bits of the philosophy od science as well. It's a good read.
posted by metaBugs at 11:32 AM on October 13, 2008




Best answer: Watson's The Double Helix.

If your desire is for an eminent scientist willing to dish the dirt, nothing else is even close
posted by jamjam at 12:00 PM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I loved 109 East Palace, it mainly focuses on Oppenheimer's social interactions with other scientists while at Los Alamos during WWII. A totally different take on the Manhattan project, tons of great science history and scientist social interactions!
posted by sararah at 12:20 PM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: A second for Bruno Latour.

I know you didn't ask about specific areas, but The Big Bang by Simon Singh provides a concise history of modern astronomy linked to its most important theory. Kitty Furgueson's Tycho and Kepler is a nice historical work that details the emerging state of scientific inquiry during the Reformation.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 12:36 PM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: I'd recommend checking out Margaret Jacob (here's her faculty page at UCLA ). I've encountered her book, "The Cultural Meaning of the Scientific Revolution," for a class related to this topic. I found her writing style a little bit difficult to pick up right away, but after spending a while it was smooth sailing.

There was another author that I'll try to dig up who wrote in a similar vein. I hope that helps!
posted by burnfirewalls at 12:42 PM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: Hugh Kearney!

Look for "Origins of the Scientific Revolution" in this list. He talks about, IIRC, the social influences on science as a two-way street.
posted by burnfirewalls at 3:13 PM on October 13, 2008


Best answer: Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact is by Ludwig Fleck, and Kuhn totally ripped him off, plus it's about syphilis (kind of)! Maybe still a little too philosophical.

How Cells Became Technologies is by the brilliant Hannah Landecker, and it talks about the social history of cell and tissue culture.

Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science is a deconstructionist history/sociology of primatology.

The Measure of All Things is about how they decided how big a meter was (during the French Revolution) and maybe messed up. And time measured in base 10!

Also Latour, though everyone's mentioned him already.

These books might be situated in specific conflicts or fields, but these tend to be used as manifestations of how science works. I think that's pretty par for the course, unless you want something like the Science Studies Reader, which would be a more true-ish introduction.

The Wikipedia entries on Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Science and Technology Studies (and the mysteriously separate one for Science Studies) might also give you some ideas of where to go with this.
posted by unknowncommand at 9:44 PM on October 14, 2008 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Science as a Process by David Hull.
posted by Eothele at 10:35 AM on October 15, 2008


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