Science and ideology

• Science as a belief system - impact

  • Accomplishments and revolutionary discoveries has led to 'belief in science'
  • This is also dampened by negative effects like pollution, weapons of mass destruction and global warming
  • Science allows us to explain, predict and control the world in a way non-scientific systems cannot do
• Science as a belief system - open belief systems (Popper)


  • Every scientists' theories are open to scrutiny and testing
  • It is governed by falsification and can be disregarded for a search for a better explanation
  • Scientific knowledge is not sacred or absolute truth
• Science as a belief system - the CUDOS norms (Merton)


  • Science can only thrive as a major social institution if it receives support from other institutions and values
  • Communism - sharing knowledge with community
  • Universalism - Judged by universal objective criteria
  • Disinterestedness - being committed to discovery for it's own sake (no fraud)
  • Organised scepticism - no knowledge is sacred, everything open to questioning
• Science as a belief system - closed belief systems (Horton)


  • Religious belief claims absolute truth, unlike science, it is fixed and cannot grow
  • Scientific belief encourages questioning and open discussion
• Science as a belief system - witchcraft among the Azande (Evans-Pritchard)


  • Do not believe in coincidence, blaming witchcraft for their misfortunes
  • Leads to accusations, ceremonies and public apologies
  • This belief system performs a social function, as it prevents grudges from growing and encourages neighbourly behaviour
  • Ensures conformity and cooperation
• Science as a belief system - self-sustaining beliefs (Polanyi)


  Devices to sustain contradictory evidence:

  • Circularity - each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea
  • Subsidiary explanations - coming up with a new explanation to explain failure
  • Denial of legitimacy - rejecting or ignoring evidence
• Science as a belief system - science as a closed system

  • Kuhn - mature sciences like geology, biology or physics are based on a set of shared assumptions that he calls paradigm
  • The paradigm lays down the broad outlines and the scientists' job is to carefully fill in the details
  • Scientific education is a process of being socialised in the truth of the paradigm
  • Anyone who challenges it is ridiculed, making science a closed belief
• Science as a belief system - the sociology of scientific knowledge

  • Interpretivists argue that all knowledge is socially constructed
  • Rather than it being objective truth, it is created by social groups using the resources available to them
  • Knorr-Certina - new inventions allows scientists to fabricate new facts
  • Also believes labs constructs false results as they don't mirror natural world
• Science as a belief system - little green men (Wooglar)


  • Scientists are engaged in the same way of interpreting the world as everyone else
  • When presented with evidence, they have to decide what it means
  • Divisions between if patterns on radio telescope print outs were little green men or signals from stars
  • Shows how scientific fact is simply a social construction of belief
• Science as a belief system - Marxists and feminists

  • See scientific knowledge as far from pure truth
  • Regard it as serving the interest of dominant groups
  • Scientific discovery driven by the need for capitalism
  • Biological ideas justifying male domination
• Science as a belief system - postmodernists (Lyotard)


  • Science is a meta-narrative that falsely claims to possess the truth
  • Used as discourse to dominate people
• Ideology - Marxists

  • Sees ideology as justifying the power and privilege of the ruing class
  • Creates false conscience as it tricks the WC into thinking the capitalist system is fair and a meritocracy, when in reality its purpose is to prevent a revolution
  • Sees religion as an institution that contributes to this
• Ideology - feminists

  • Sees ideology as justifying men's power and the divide being natural
  • Social institutions give false impressions of differences in ability
• Ideology - overview

  • Belief - tells us how the world should be run
  • Ideology - set of beliefs that serve the interests of a dominant group
• Ideology - criticisms

  • Can be distorted or biased
  • Can conceal the interests of a group or legitimate their privilege
  • Closed to criticisms
  • Can prevent change by misleading people
• Nationalism as an ideology - nationalism beliefs

  • Nations are distinctive communities each with their own unique characteristics and history
  • Every nation should be self-governing
  • National loyalty and identity should come first before others
  • Counter - Anderson says a nation is an imagined community as we will never know everyone in it, this blinds millions of strangers together and causes sense of common purpose
• Nationalism as an ideology - Marxism

  • Sees nationalism as a form of false class consciousness that helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international WC
  • Nationalism encourages workers to believe they have more in common with the capitalists of their own country than with workers of other countries
  • This enables the ruling class of each capitalist country to persuade the WC to fight wars on their behalf
• Nationalism as an ideology - functionalism

  • Sees it as secular civil religion
  • It integrates individuals into larger social and political groups by making them feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves
  • Religion causes conflict due to diversity of choice and rationalisation, but nationalism unites everyone under a common cause
  • Educational institutions promote social solidarity by teaching nationalism