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Staying the Course: On the Value of Social Studies of Science in Resistance to the “Post‐Truth” Movement
Author(s) -
Fujimura Joan H.,
Holmes Christopher J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12545
Subject(s) - value (mathematics) , sociology , epistemology , politics , relation (database) , resistance (ecology) , sociology of scientific knowledge , post truth , social science , political science , law , philosophy , ecology , database , machine learning , computer science , biology
Scientific knowledge has been under attack recently, especially during and from the Trump administration. This article discusses the value of research in social studies of science in relation to scientific practice and post‐truth attacks on science. This literature analyzes the expert work and social values that enter into the production of evidence, the development and testing of methods, and the construction of theoretical and epistemological frames for connecting evidence, methods, and methodologies. Although researchers in this area argue that there are politics in science, this article demonstrates that their analyses of the processes of adjudicating evidence and epistemologies contribute to science. In contrast, post‐truth attacks on scientific expertise exemplify a particular kind of politics aimed at supporting a particular group's political and economic interests.