Ideology and science

• Science


  A belief system that claims to tell us about how the world is
• Science


  • Product of the process of rationalisation that began with the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century
  • Has undermined religion by changing the way we think and how we see the world
• Science has had an enormous impact on society over the last few centuries
• Impacts of science


  • Eradicated many fatal diseases
  • Revolutionised economic productivity and raised our standard of living through technology
  • Transformed basic features of daily life like transport, communications, work and leisure
• Faith in science


  A belief that science can 'deliver the goods'
• Faith in science has been somewhat dimmed by a recognition that science may cause problems as well as solve them
• While science may have helped to protect us from natural dangers, it has created its own 'manufactured risks' that threaten us
• Science


  Enables us to explain, predict and control the world in a way that non-scientific or pre-scientific belief systems cannot do
• Science as an 'open' belief system

  • Every scientist's theories are open to scrutiny, criticism and testing by others
  • Governed by the principle of falsificationism - if evidence contradicts a theory, the theory can be discarded and a better explanation sought
  • Scientific knowledge is cumulative and builds on previous achievements
  • Scientific knowledge is not sacred or absolute truth, it can always be questioned, criticised, tested and perhaps shown to be false
• CUDOS norms of science

  • Communism - knowledge must be shared with the scientific community
  • Universalism - scientific knowledge is judged by universal, objective criteria
  • Disinterestedness - seeking knowledge for its own sake
  • Organised scepticism - no knowledge-claim is regarded as 'sacred', every idea is open to questioning and criticism
• Closed belief system


  Makes knowledge-claims that cannot be overturned
• Closed belief systems


  • Have 'get out clauses' that prevent them from being disproved in the eyes of believers
  • Use circularity, subsidiary explanations and denying legitimacy to rival beliefs to sustain themselves in the face of contradictory evidence
• Paradigm


  A set of values, ideas, beliefs and assumptions about what scientists are investigating, like a pair of coloured glasses through which they view the world
• Witchcraft among the Azande

  • A closed system that cannot be overturned by evidence
  • Believe misfortune is caused by witchcraft, resolved by consulting an oracle
• Sociology of scientific knowledge

  • Interpretivists argue scientific knowledge is socially constructed, not objective truth
  • Marxists, feminists and postmodernists see scientific knowledge as serving the interests of dominant groups
• Ideology


  A worldview or set of ideas and values, a belief system that can be distorted, false or mistaken, conceal group interests, or be irrational and closed to criticism
• Marxist view of ideology

  • Society is divided into two opposed classes - proletariat and bourgeoisie
  • Bourgeois ideology functions to prevent change by creating a false consciousness among workers
• Hegemony


  The bourgeoisie's ideological domination of society
• Gramsci's view


  • Workers have a dual consciousness - a mixture of bourgeois ideology and ideas from their own experience of exploitation
  • This means the working class can develop class consciousness and challenge bourgeois hegemony
• Marxist view of nationalism


  • Nationalism is a form of false class consciousness that divides the international working class and prevents the overthrow of capitalism
• Functionalist view of nationalism

  • Nationalism functions as a secular civil religion that integrates individuals into a national community, overcoming divisions like religion or class
• Gellner's view of nationalism


  • Nationalism is a modern phenomenon that emerged with industrialisation to enable communication and social integration in large-scale societies
  • Elites use nationalism as an ideology to motivate the population to endure the hardships of industrialisation
• Mannheim's distinction


  • Ideological thought justifies keeping things as they are, reflecting the interests of privileged groups
  • Utopian thought justifies social change, reflecting the interests of the underprivileged
• Feminism and ideology


  • Gender inequality is the fundamental division in society, and patriarchal ideology plays a key role in legitimating it
  • Religious beliefs and practices have been used to define women as inferior