Sabine Maasen Libros

How can we understand the intensifying interactions of science and society? It is the interdisciplinary field called science studies that provides us with a rich inventory of analytical approaches. They help us explore science as a practice, a subsystem, a culture, and an institution. Their joint observation: Science today is part and parcel of what has come to be known as 'knowledge society'. More than ever, knowledge production and consumption are in need of incessant monitoring and sophisticated reflection. Nine exemplary studies that inquire into, or are themselves examples of the dynamics of scientific knowledge, are included here: They cover issues as diverse as eugenics, climate research, and the role of historiography, and make use of different tools such as evolutionary reasoning, metaphor, and bibliometrics. Finally, they ponder the need for science to go public (PUS) as well as for society to regulate knowledge and to restructure universities as building blocks of our science system. Their joint message: Science studies can and should assume an active role in observing, reflecting, and communicating the intricate encounters of science and society today.

Die Wissenssoziologie fußt auf einer radikalen Soziologisierung des Wissens: Dass VergesellÝ schaftung sich im Medium des Wissens vollzieht und alles Wissen standortgebunden ist, haben Autoren wie Scheler und Mannheim Ende der 20er Jahre eingeführt. Die Beziehungen zwiÝ schen Wissen und Gesellschaft werden seither im Hinblick auf die Produktion, Zirkulation und Rezeption von Denkstilen und Wissensbeständen untersucht. Wichtige Weiterentwicklungen finden sich in der (post-)strukturalistischen DiskursanaÝ lyse, der systemtheoretischen Semantikanalyse, dem 'strong programme' und der SozialÝ phänomenologie der Lebenswelt. Das aktuelle Forschungsthema 'Wissensgesellschaft' zeigt eine zunehmend interdisziplinär orientierte Wissenssoziologie.