Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780226292625)

Why is science so credible? Usual answers center on scientists' objective methods or their powerful instruments. In his new book, Thomas Gieryn argues that a better explanation for the cultural authority of science lies downstream, when scientific claims leave laboratories and enter courtrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. On such occasions, we use "maps" to decide who to believe-cultural maps demarcating "science" from pseudoscience, ideology, faith, or nonsense.

Gieryn looks at episodes of boundary-work: Was phrenology good science? How about cold fusion? Is social science really scientific? Is organic farming? After centuries of disputes like these, Gieryn finds no stable criteria that absolutely distinguish science from non-science. Science remains a pliable cultural space, flexibly reshaped to claim credibility for some beliefs while denying it to others. In a timely epilogue, Gieryn finds this same controversy at the heart of the raging "science wars."

Author: Thomas F. Gieryn
ISBN-10: 0226292622
ISBN-13: 9780226292625
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 01/15/1999
Pages: 412
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 8.97h x 6.04w x 1.01d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 12/15/1998 pg. 713