UNSPECIFIED (2000) Why science studies has never been critical of science - Some recent lessons on how to be a helpful nuisance and a harmless radical. PHILOSOPHY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, 30 (1). pp. 5-32. ISSN 0048-3931

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Abstract

Research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) tends to presume that intellectual and political radicalism go hand in hand. One would therefore expect that the most intellectually radical movement in the field relates critically to its social conditions. However, this is not the case, as demonstrated by the trajectory of the Parisian School of STS spearheaded by Michel Gallon and Bruno Latour. Their position, "actor-network theory," turns out to be little more than a strategic adaptation to the democratization of expertise and the decline of the strong nation-state in France over the past 25 years. This article provides a prehistory of this client-driven, contract-based research culture in U.S, sociology of the 1960s, followed by specific features of French philosophical and political culture that have bred the distinctive tenets of actor-network theory Insofar as actor-network theory has become the main paradigm for contemporary STS research, it reflects a field that dodges normative commitments in order to maintain a user-friendly presence.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
Journal or Publication Title:	PHILOSOPHY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Publisher:	SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
ISSN:	0048-3931
Date:	March 2000
Volume:	30
Number:	1
Number of Pages:	28
Page Range:	pp. 5-32
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/13637

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